
Class 

Book 

Copyright N° 






COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 

Edited by 

Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. 



Zbe Hmerican Crisis Bioorapbies 

Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the 
counsel and advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of 
the University of Pennsylvania. 

Each i2mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price 
$1.25 net; by mail, $1.37. 

These biographies constitute a complete and comprehensive 
history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of readable 
and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation 
of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below. 
An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is im- 
partial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southern subjects and 
Northern writers to Northern subjects, but all belong to the younger 
generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war- 
time prejudice. The Civil War is not treated as a rebellion, but as the 
gieat event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, It 
is now clearly recognized to have been. 

Volumes in the Series : 
Abraham Lincoln. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer. 
Thomas H. Benton. By Joseph M. Rogers. 
David G. Farragut. By John R. Spears. 
William T. Sherman. By Edward Robins. 
Frederick Douglass. By Booker T. Washington. 
Judah P. Benjamin. By Pierce Butler. 
Robert E. Lee. By Philip Alexander Bruce. 
Jefferson Davis. By Prof. W. E. Dodd. 
Alexander H. Stephens. By Louis Pendleton. 
John C. Calhoun. By Gaillard Hunt. 
" Stonewall" Jackson. By Henry Alexander White. 
John Brown. By W. E. Burghardt Dubois. 
Charles Sumner. By Prof. George H. Haynes. 
Henry Clay. By Thomas H. Clay. 
William H. Seward. By Edward Everett Hale, Jr. 
Stephen A. Douglas. By Prof. Henry Parker Willis. 
William Lloyd Garrison. By Lindsay Swift. 
Raphael Semmes. By Colyer Meriwether. 
Daniel Webster. By Prof. Frederic A. Ogg. 
Ulysses S. Grant. By Franklin Spencer Edmonds. 



AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 



Ulysses S. Grant 



By 
FRANKLIN SPENCER EDMONDS 

Author of " History of the Central High School 

of Philadelphia," "A Century's Progress 

in Education," etc. 




PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



FL7Z 



Copyright, 191 5, by 
George W. Jacobs & Company 
Published May, igij 



All rig/Us reserved 
Printed in U. S. A. 

MAY I8i9l5 

©CLA398868 



>v 



f4 



To H. E. 

whose devotion to his adopted 
country in the War for the 
Union has been an inspiration 
to those who have come after him 



PREFACE 

Amid the multitude of biographies of General 
Grant, written in the main by those who knew him 
with some degree of intimacy, the appearance of 
another may seem to demand explanation, and even 
apology. I cannot lay claim either to participation 
in the stirring history of his times, or to personal 
acquaintance with my subject; but each generation 
requires the service of its own historians and biog- 
raphers, in order to bring the message of the past 
to bear on the present ; and this book is the result 
of an honest attempt to record a life that is full of 
significance for our own era. 

The time has now come when the great struggle 
for national existence, known as the American Civil 
War, can be studied without passion or prejudice. 
Within the last few years, many volumes of personal 
reminiscences and letters have appeared, and the 
correspondence of the leaders on both sides has been 
made available. The primary sources of informa- 
tion, therefore, are approaching completion. Even 
with this wealth of material, it has not always been 
easy to determine the exact truth with reference to 
some of the facts of Grant's life. His public record 
was made in a time of bitter partisanship, when few 
were willing to state fairly the point of view of their 



4 PEEFACE 

opponents. Moreover, his own writings are some- 
times of little assistance to his biographer, not be- 
cause of inaccuracy or distortion, but for limitations 
in subject. While the ''Personal Memoirs" will 
always rank as a military classic, yet his letters, 
although numerous, give little explanation of the 
genius of the man. From early mauhood, he had 
learned to disregard popular clamour, and even 
when the leader of a great national party, he rarely 
deigned to explain his actions, or to palliate 
hostile criticism. In his most intimate conversa- 
tions, he almost never discussed himself. What he 
had done or what he had seen, he could describe 
with a vivid, terse accuracy ; but subjective analysis 
did not interest him, nor did he realize how valu- 
able it might be to those who would seek to inter- 
pret his life. While his reticence concerning him- 
self has added to the difficulties of the biographer, 
yet it is hoped that from the wealth of supplementary 
material, substantial accuracy has resulted. 

Many have assisted in the preparation of this 
book, including some of the fast -decreasing group 
of Grant's comrades, and their courteous and gener- 
ous interest is here gratefully acknowledged. 

The frontispiece has been taken from a photo- 
graph by F. Gutekunst, made in the month of the 
Appomattox Campaign. 

F. S. E. 

March, 1915. 



CONTENTS 

Chronology 7 

I. Early Life 11 

II. At West Point .... 30 

III. Eleven Years in the Army . . 50 

IV. The Years of Unfulfilled Promise 73 
V. The National Crisis ... 88 

VI. The First Battles— Fort Donelson 109 

VII. The Corinth Campaign— Pittsburg 

Landing 132 

VIII. Vicksburg 155 

IX. Chattanooga 189 

X. With the Army of the Potomac . 209 

XI. Petersburg and Appomattox . 241 

XII. Eeconstruction .... 274 

XIII. Eight Years as President . . 293 

XIV. The Closing Years . . . .317 

XV. Grant— the Man .... 335 

Appendix A. Letters of Graut and 

Sherman, March, 1864 . . . 352 



CONTENTS 

Appendix B. The Official Orders in 
May, 1864 356 

Appendix C. Coiicludirjg Correspond- 
ence Between Grant and Lee . . 362 

Bibliography 367 

Index 370 



CHRONOLOGY 

1821, June 24 — Marriage of Jesse Root Grant and Hannah 

Simpson. 

1822, April 27 — Birth of Ulysses Simpson Grant (Hiram 
Ulysses), at Point Pleasant, Ohio. 

1823 — Removal to Georgetown, Ohio. 

1836-7 — Spends winter at Maysville, Kentucky, attending the 
Seminary. 

1838-9 — Attends boarding school at Ripley. 

1839 — Appointed to United States Military Academy at West 
Point. 

1843 — Graduated from Academy, and commissioned as Brevet 
Second Lieutenant in Fourth United States Infantry. 
Service at St. Louis. 

1844 — Service at Natchitoches. 

1845 — Engagement to Miss Julia Dent. Service at New Orleans 
and Corpus Christi. 

1846 — War with Mexico,— Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma. Ap- 
pointed Quarter-Master and Commissary of regiment. 
Monterey. 

1847 — Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino 
del Rey, and Chapultepec. Occupation of Mexico City. 

1848 — Peace with Mexico. Return home and marriage (August 
22). Ordered to Sacketts Harbor. 

1 849-51— Garrison duty at Detroit. Return to Sacketts Harbor. 

1852 — Ordered to Pacific via Panama. Cholera en route. 

1852-3 — Service at Fort Vancouver. 

1853-4— Service at Fort Humboldt. Resignation from army. 

1854-60 — With family at St. Louis, — farming, real estate, eto. 



8 CHRONOLOGY 

1860-61 — In the leather business at Galena, Illinois. 

1861 — Presides at Union meeting in Galena. Serves as clerk in 
office of Adjutant-General of Illinois. Appointed Colonel 
of the Twenty-First Illinois. Marches into Missouri. 
Appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. In com- 
mand at Ironton, Jefferson City, Cape Girardeau and 
Cairo. Seizure of Paducah. First battle at Belmont 
(November). 

1862— Capture of Fort Henry. Surrender of Fort Donelson 
(February). Appointed Major-General of Volunteers. 
Battle of Pittsburg Landing (April). Capture of Corinth. 
In command of Department of Tennessee. Battles of 
Iuka and Corinth. Advance on Vicksburg. 

1863 — Capture of Arkansas Post. Attempts upon Vicksburg. 
Seizes Bruinsberg, Port Gibson and Grand Gulf. Bat- 
tles of Kaymond, Jackson, Champion's Hill, and Big 
Black. Investment of Vicksburg. Surrender (July 4). 
Appointed Major-General in the Regular Army. Injured 
at New Orleans. Placed in charge of Military Division 
of the Mississippi. Chattanooga relieved. Battles of 
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge (November). 

1864— The Meridian Expedition. Appointed Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral of the Armies of the United States (March). The 
general advance (May). Battles of Wilderness, Spottsyl- 
vania, North Anna and Cold Harbor. The crossing of 
the James River. Petersburg besieged. The Shenan- 
doah Campaign. Successes of Sherman, Sheridan and 
Thomas. 

1865— Capture of Fort Fisher. Sherman's march through the 
Carolinas. FortStedman. Battle of Five Forks. Peters- 
burg and Richmond evacuated. Appomattox (April 9). 
Assassination of Lincoln. Johnston surrenders to Sher- 
man. End of the War. Inspection of Southern States. 

1866 — Appointed General of the Armies of the United States. 

1867 — Appointed Secretary of War ad interim. 

1868— Nominated for the Presidency (May). Elected (No- 
vember). 

1869 — Inaugurated as President. Difficulties with Cabinet and 
Appointments. " Black Friday." 



CHEONOLOGY 9 

1870 — Break with Sumner over San Domingo Treaty. Ratifica- 
tion of Fifteenth Amendment. 

1871 — Treaty of Washington over Alabama claims. 

1872 — The Geneva Award. The Liberal Movement. Renoini- 
nation and Reelection. 

1873 — Inaugurated a second time. The Virginius affair. Panio 
of 1873. 

1874— Veto of Inflation Aot. 

1876— The Centennial Celebration. The Hayes-Tilden Elec- 
tion. The Electoral Commission. 

1877 — Hayes inaugurated. On Tour of the World, from May, 
1877, to September, 1879. 

1880— The Third Term Movement. "The 306." Invests in 
Grant and Ward. 

1883 — Injured by fall on ice. 

1884 — Failure of Grant and Ward. Writes articles for Century 
Magazine. Suffers from cancer of throat. 

1885 — Restored to rank in Army, as retired General. Com- 
pletes " Personal Memoirs." Death (July 23). 

1897 — Remains removed to Mausoleum on Riverside Drive, 
New York City. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



CHAPTER I 

EAELY LIFE 



" Comrades, having been compelled, as often I 
have since my arrival in San Francisco, to utter a 
few words not only to ex-soldiers, but to all other 
classes of citizens of our great country, and always 
speaking without any preparation, I have neces- 
sarily been obliged to repeat, possibly in not the 
same words, but the same ideas. But the one thing 
I want to impress on you is that we have a country 
to be proud of, to fight for, and die for if necessary." 

These simple words were addressed by General 
Grant to a vast audience of war veterans filling 
every corner of the Academy of Music in Philadel- 
phia, on December 12, 1879, which had assembled 
to bid him welcome home from a tour of the world. 
A distinguished ex-governor of the Commonwealth, 
then the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, presided over the meeting ; the 
governor had delivered an eloquent address of wel- 
come. The guest of the evening was no orator, but 
on mauy occasions he showed his command of plain 



12 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

and effective words, and this time, impressed with 
the unusual spirit of the occasion, he spoke from 
the heart. He described the influence of war upon 
the growing boy, who, without any exciting cause, 
would probably have stayed by his father's home 
and followed his father's pursuit, but who, aroused 
by the principles of the great conflict, had gone 
forth into a wider life, and when the war was over, 
without any diminution of his love for the old home, 
had then struck out for new fields, and thereby had 
become a pioneer in trade and commerce. 

In referring to the opportunity and change which 
the Civil War had brought into the life of the coun- 
try lad, General Grant might have referred appro- 
priately to his own career. There is probably no 
actor in that stormy period, whose outlook, ambi- 
tions, hopes and prospects were altered more com- 
pletely by the great conflict than his. The drama 
of life offers many curious contrasts, but none more 
effective than that which shows him in 1861, as 
drifting through life, unable, after many trials, 
without family assistance to make a living for his 
household and himself, and then — four years later 
— presents him the idol of the nation, having 
achieved a world-wide renown — with the greatest 
political prospects within his reach. When his op- 
portunity came, he was ready, and so his is the 
well-earned prize, but it is not too much to say that 
if there had been no American crisis culminating in 
Civil War, the world never would have heard of 
Grant, and the literature of American life would 



EARLY LIFE 13 

have lacked one of its most interesting and effective 
illustrations. 

Ulysses Simpson Grant was born April 27, 1822, at 
Point Pleasant, Ohio, his parents being Jesse Root 
and Hannah Simpson Grant. In his " Memoirs," 
he states that "My family is American and has 
been for generations, in all its branches, direct and 
collateral." 

For eight generations the history of the Grants is 
the typical record of a pioneer family. In 1630 
Matthew Grant and Priscilla, his wife, with an in- 
fant daughter, sailed from Plymouth in the four- 
hundred-ton boat, Mary and John, under Captain 
Squib. 1 After a voyage of seventy-one days, they 
arrived at Nantasket and settled at Dorchester, 
south of Boston. They were a part of the large 
Puritan migration to New England. In 1631, Mat- 
thew Grant was admitted as a freeman of Dor- 
chester, but five years afterward he removed the 
family home to Windsor, Conn., where he lived 
until his death, serving in various positions of 
honor as the first surveyor of the town, town clerk, 
etc. 

" He was a prominent man in the church," says 

1 Whether Matthew Grant was of Scotch descent, owing alle- 
giance to the clan, whose famous motto " Stand Fast, Craig 
Ellachie " is exemplified strongly in the lives of some of his 
descendants, or whether he was an English yeoman of Puritan 
proclivities, it is now impossible to determine. Jesse R. Grant 
thought he was of Scotch descent, but as Matthew Grant came 
from the southwestern part of England, it is difficult to under- 
stand just how there could have been a strong Scottish element 
in his blood. 



14 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

Dr. Styles of the progenitor of the Grant family, 
"and evidently was just and conscientious in all his 
public and private transactions and duties ; as 
Eecorder he often added notes explanatory or in 
correction to the records, which have considerable 
value to the investigator of the present day. He 
was the compiler of the old church record. . . . 
In short, he was a pious, hard-working, conscien- 
tious Christian man and a model town clerk." 

Matthew Grant seems to have had a high degree 
of tenacity in asserting his views and in maintain- 
ing what he conceived to be right. A controversy 
arose in the church in 1668, because a portion of the 
members desired to leave their first pastor and or- 
ganize a separate parish under a popular preacher. 
A town meeting was called at which a vote was 
secured in favor of giving the new minister a hear- 
ing, but Matthew Grant refused to enter the pro- 
ceedings of the meeting upon the records ; where- 
upon the entry appears on the books in a strange 
hand and beneath was a protest by the town clerk, 
as follows : "This is a proviso: I here express 
to clear myself from having any hand in assenting 
to the warning of the town meeting, so called, as 
George Griswold has entered in this book, Aug. 
the 8th, '68, for he and some others came to (my) 
house after they had been together, and desired me, 
being the town recorder, to enter their town vote, 
made this day, that Mr. Woodbridge shall have the 
liberty to preach on the Sabbath. I told him I 
would not have no hand in the business nor enter 



EAELY LIFE 15 

their vote. Then he desired me to let him have the 
town book, wherein I used to enter such things. 
He being a townsman I laid the book upon the 
table, and there he wrote himself what is entered by 
his own hand. This I certify. 

" Matthew Grant. 

"Augt. 17, 1668.''' 

Matthew Grant was twice married and left several 
children, of whom the oldest son was Samuel, born 
in Dorchester in 1631. His son was Samuel, Jr., 
born in Windsor in 1659, dying in 1710. His son, 
Noah Grant, was also born in Windsor in 1692 and 
died in 1727. His widow afterward married Peter 
Buell and so brought about a relationship between 
the Grants and the family of Don Carlos Buell, the 
contemporary of General Grant in the Civil War. 

The fifth generation was represented by Noah 
Grant, 2d, who was born in Tolland, Conn., in 
1718 and was a scout and soldier, being appointed 
captain in the French and Indian War. He took 
part in a number of military engagements around 
Lake George and Lake Champlain, serving with the 
famous scout, Eogers, and Israel Putnam and John 
Stark, until in 1756, when he went out in a scouting 
party and was returned as "absent. " While he was 
probably killed, yet no letters of administration 
were granted on his estate until 1774. His son, 
Noah Grant, 3d, was also born in Tolland, Conn., 
in 1748. He took the field after the battle of Lex- 
ington, was originally commissioned as a lieuten- 



16 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

ant, and served until the end of the Revolutionary 
War as a captain. About 1790 he emigrated from 
Connecticut to Westmoreland County, Pa., near 
Greeiisburg, about twenty miles from Pittsburgh. 
Here he married a second time and after a few years 
set out for the Western Reserve, locating at first in 
Liverpool, Columbiana County, O., but removing 
in 1800 to Deerfield, Portage Couuty. The last 
years of his life were spent with his son Peter at 
Maysville, Ky., where he died in 1820. A part of 
his large family settled south of the Ohio River, 
and several of his grandchildren fought with the 
Confederates in the Civil War. 

Jesse Root Grant, the oldest son of the second mar- 
riage of Captain Noah, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Pa., in 1794, and was named after the Chief 
Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut. Sev- 
eral years of his youth were spent with the family 
of Judge Todd at Youngstown, O. In 1812 he 
removed to Maysville, where he learned the tanning 
business in association with his half-brother. In 
1815 he opened a tannery at Deerfield, O., but as 
there was not much business at this location, he 
moved three years later to Ravenna, the county 
seat of Portage County. Here he experienced fever 
and ague and had a number of business reverses, 
whereupon he removed to Point Pleasant County, 
on the banks of the Ohio River, about twenty-five 
miles southeast from Cincinnati. He again estab- 
lished a tannery, and as business prospered so that he 
could maintain a home, he decided upon matrimony, 



EAELY LIFE 17 

and on June 24, 1821, he married Hannah Simpson, 
the second daughter and the third child of John 
Simpson, who had been born and brought up in 
Montgomery County, Pa. Her father was a highly 
respectable farmer of American ancestry for several 
generations. The family had recently removed to 
Ohio. Jesse E. Grant thus described his wife: 
"At the time of our marriage, Mrs. Grant was an 
unpretending country girl ; handsome but not vain. 
She had previously joined the Methodist Church ; 
aud I can truthfully say that it has never had a 
more devoted or consistent member. Her steadi- 
ness, firmness and strength of character have been 
the stay of the family through life. She was always 
careful, and most watchful over her children, but 
never austere, and not opposed to their free partici- 
pation in innocent amusements." 

The home at Point Pleasant was a small one- 
story frame cottage situated near the northern bank 
of the Ohio Eiver. After the great fame came to 
the child which it sheltered in early life, the house 
was removed and has since been preserved at Colum- 
bus, O., on the state fair grounds. It was here that 
the oldest son, Ulysses Simpson Grant, was born. 
In 1823 the Grants removed from Point Pleasant to 
Georgetown, the county seat of Brown County, O., 
where the father started again with a small tannery 
and after a few months built a modest two-story 
brick house which was paid for that summer from 
the profits of the business. 

" I continued on in this way," writes Jesse Grant, 



18 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

"improving a little every year. Two years after I 
built my house, I added a kitchen in the rear, and 
a few months later, when the increase of my family 
required and my means justified it, I built a large 
house in front. My object was not to get rich, but 
to make my family comfortable and contented, and 
to train up my children for usefulness. Early in 
the year 1839, when my oldest son was nearly seven- 
teen years of age, he told me he could never follow 
the tanning business ; that he did not like it. I told 
him that whatever he expected to follow through 
life he should engage in now, and not waste his 
early life in learning a business he did not intend 
to follow. Among other preparations for life he 
desired an education. Although my business had 
been good and reasonably successful, yet I did not 
feel able to support him at college. So I suggested 
"West Point ; that met his approbation, and I made 
application, and by the veriest accident in the world 
I obtained the appointment for him." 

In 1841 he sold out the business at Georgetown and 
formed a partnership with E. A. Collins to conduct 
the leather business at Galena, 111. After several 
years of success in this partnership, Jesse E. Grant 
retired from business in 1854 with a competency. 
His later years were spent in Covington, Ky., where, 
during the presidency of his distinguished son, he 
served as postmaster of the town. The secret of 
his success may be summed up in his own words : 
" Preferring to do a sure business to a large one, I 
worked on such means as I had, and never involved 



EAELY LIFE 19 

myself in debt. Soon after I commenced business 
at Point Pleasant, General Lytle, of Cincinnati, of- 
fered me an empty tannery he had in that city, and 
agreed to furnish all the means necessary to carry 
it on, but I was afraid to take the responsibility, 
and adhered to my first policy of a sure thing rather 
than a large one. The man who did take the place 
retired ten years ago on a fortune of a million dol- 
lars. I kept on in a moderate way, supporting my 
family well, teaching them the practical lessons of 
life, and fitting them for future usefulness. If I had 
taken the General's tannery, I should, no doubt, 
have come into possession of a sudden, overgrown 
fortune, and spoiled my children. As it was, when 
I was old enough to retire, my boys were fully quali- 
fied to take my place, and I have the consolation of 
knowing that I have educated my children all well, 
and have made them all moderately wealthy, be- 
sides knowing that they are all doing well for 
themselves." 1 



1 Summary of family : 

1st. Matthew Grant— Born 1601, Eugland ; died 1681, Wind- 
sor, Conn. 

2d. Samuel — Born 1631, Dorchester, Mass. ; died 1718, 
Windsor, Conn. 

3d. Samuel, Jr. — Born 1659, Windsor, Conn. ; died 1710. 

4th. Noah (I)— Born 1693, Windsor, Conn. ; died 1727, 
Tolland, Conn. 

5th. Noah (II), (Captain)— Born 1718, Tolland, Conn.; 
lost 1756, near Fort William Henry. 

6th. Noah (III), (Captain)— Born 1748, Tolland, Conn. ; 
died 1819, Maysville, Ky. 

7th. Jesse Root — Born 1794, Westmoreland County, Pa. ; 
died June 29, 1873, Covington, Ky. Married Hannah Simpson 



20 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Jesse R. Grant was a successful pioneer. He rec- 
ognized the business needs of the new community 
and adapted himself to supply them. Thrifty, al- 
though not penurious in personal life, and a good 
bargainer, he had little difficulty in supporting his 
growing family and in accumulating a competency 
for his own old age. But he was not regarded with 
universal favor by his neighbors. He was disputa- 
tious, and fond of an argument, somewhat clever 
with his pen, but vain of his own cleverness. His 
Southern neighbors, of whom there were many, re- 
garded him as radical in his Northern sympathies, 
and even his friends criticized his oft-expressed 
pride in his children, especially his first-born. To 
those who were accustomed to deal with the stern 
realities of life on the edge of the wilderness, it 
seemed sentimental and foolish to waste time and 
maybe warp nature by talking of " My Ulysses " 
aud what he might accomplish ! 

Hannah Simpson Grant is an illustration of the 
familiar rule that the strongest qualities of success- 
ful men are derived from the mother. She was the 
descendant of a long line of Pennsylvania pioneers, 
probably Irish in origin, and illustrated the best 
traditions of her race. That she was a remarkable 
woman is the universal testimony of her neighbors. 
" His mother at that time was about thirty years of 



— Born November 23, 1798, Montgomery County, Pa. ; died 
May 11, 1883, Jersey City, N. J. 

8th. Ulysses Simpson — Born April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, 
Ohio ; died July 23, 1885, Mt. McGregor, N. Y. 



EARLY LIFE 21 

age," writes Daniel Ammen, a playmate of Ulysses, 
" above medium height, graceful in manner, gracious 
to children, neat in person, and kept the children 
neatly clothed, which was rather unusual in that 
part of the world at that time. In after years, the 
General told me that he had never seen his mother 
shed a tear. She had a cheerful countenance, a 
kind word to all, and in my eyes was very haud- 
some, and in reality certainly was at least very pre 
possessing and agreeable." She could endure, with- 
out complaint ; she could work, without chattering ; 
she could govern with firmness, without appeal to 
fear. Later in life, the neighbors said of Grant, — 
" He got his sense from his mother." 

To this father and mother there were born six chil- 
dren, of whom the subject of this biography was the 
first. 1 He was named Hiram Ulysses, after a family 
consultation which has something of simple romance. 
When the baby was a few weeks old, the mother 
went on a visit to her father's home, ten miles away, 



1 Ulysses Simpson (Hiram Ulysses) — Born April 27, 1822 ; 
died July 23, 1885. 

Samuel Simpson— Born September 23, 1825, at Georgetown, 
Ohio ; died September 13, 1861, near St. Paul, Minn. 

Clara Rachel — Born December 11, 1828, Georgetown, O.; 
died March 6, 1865, Covington, Ky. 

Virginia Paine — Born February 20, 1832, Georgetown, O. ; 
Married Abel R. Corbin ; died March 28, 1881, Jersey City, 
N. J. 

Orvil Lynch — Born May 15, 1835, Georgetown, O. ; died 
August 4, 1881, Elizabeth, N. J. 

Mary Francis — Born July 30, 1839, Georgetown, O. ; married 
Rev. Michael John Cramer; died January 23, 1898, Carlisle, 
Pa. 



22 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

to exhibit her first-born. While there, a family 
council was called, to name the child. The grand- 
father, John Simpson, suggested Hiram as a 
proper Scriptural name ; an aunt advocated Theo- 
dore, which was with her a favorite name ; two 
members of the circle urged Albert in recogni- 
tion of Albert Gallatin, always a strong favorite in 
the West, although then in the evening of his years ; 
the grandmother favored Ulysses, suggested to her 
from the recent reading of a translation of Fenelon's 
" Telemaque." 1 Tradition says that these names 
were written on slips of paper and placed in a hat, and 
that the name Ulysses was drawn, although afterward 
Hiram was added, in deference to the grandfather. 
This quaint tale resulted in many a heartburn, not 
unnatural, to the child thus baptized. In the simple 
life of the West, a classical name seemed ridiculous 
and absurd. In boyhood, natural abbreviations 
were soon invented, — "Lys" or "Useless" or 
"Hug" from the initials. It was not until the 
owner had given honor to the name that the habit 
of ridicule was overcome. 

When Ulysses was one year old, his father moved 
his family fifteen miles east of Point Pleasant, to 
Georgetown, a small hamlet located on one of the 
many tributaries of the Ohio River, about ten miles 

1 " Your father, Ulysses, is the wisest of mankind, his heart is 
an unfathomable depth ; his secret lies beyond the line of sub- 
tlety and fraud ; he is the friend of truth ; he says nothing that 
is false, but when it is necessary he conceals what is true ; his 
wisdom is, as it were, a seal upon his lips, which is never 
broken but for an important purpose." 



\2 



EAELY LIFE 23 

above the main stream. Here the tanner reestab- 
lished his home and business, and here the busy, 
happy years of childhood were spent. At first, there 
were scarcely a dozen families in the place, but there 
was rapid growth, and as the population increased, 
Jesse Grant advanced in prosperity, until he became 
one of the important citizens of the place. 

Many of the traditions of childhood have been 
preserved, but for most of them it is difficult to find 
absolute proof. In his "Memoirs," Grant said: 
" In my early days, every one labored more or less, 
in the region where my youth was spent, and more in 
proportion to their private means. It was only the 
very poor who were exempt. While my father car- 
ried on the manufacture of leather and worked at 
the trade himself, he owned and tilled considerable 
land. I detested the trade, preferring almost any 
other labor ; but I was fond of agriculture, and of 
all employment in which horses were used. We 
had, among other lands, fifty acres of forest within 
a mile of the village. In the fall of the year chop- 
pers were employed to cut enough wood to last a 
twelvemonth. When I was seven or eight years of 
age, I began hauling all the wood used in the house 
and shops. I could not load it on the wagon, of 
course, at that time, but I could drive, and the 
choppers would load, and some one at the house un- 
load. When about eleven years old, I was strong 
enough to hold a plough. From that age until 
seventeen, I did all the work done with horses, such 
as breaking up the land, furrowing, ploughing corn 



24 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

and potatoes, bringing in the crops when harvested, 
hauling all the wood, besides tending two or three 
horses, a cow or two, and sawing wood for stoves, 
etc., while still attending school. For this I was 
compensated by the fact that there was never any 
scolding or punishing by rny parents ; no objection 
to rational enjoyments, such as fishing, going to the 
creek a mile away to swim in summer, taking a 
horse and visiting my grandparents in the adjoining 
county, fifteen miles off, skating on the lake in 
winter, or taking a horse and sleigh when there was 
snow on the ground." 

Of these early days, a few incidents may be nar- 
rated, of higher credibility than many of the legends 
which surround early greatness, because of the light 
which they cast upon personality. Thus, when the 
child was three years old, a neighbor fired a pistol 
close to his ear, and was greatly pleased at the glee 
of the youugster, who, with the joy of childhood, de- 
manded " Do it again." 

He had a wonderful love for horses, and would as 
a child play with the teams at the tannery, swinging 
upon their tails, riding bareback, etc., and later he 
mastered the difficult art of standing barefoot upon 
a sheepskin strapped on the horse's back, while 
driving at a fast gallop. When he was eight years 
old, his father sent him to buy a horse from Ralston, 
a farmer, and with his usual keenness at a bargain, 
Jesse told his son to offer twenty dollars, and then 
twenty-two-fifty, and if absolutely necessary to get 
the horse, twenty-five dollars. When Ulysses ar- 



EAELY LIFE 25 

rived at the farm Ealstou asked him, — " How much 
did your father tell you to pay f " To which the 
boy replied naively, — "He told me to offer you 
twenty dollars, and if necessary, twenty-two-fifty, 
and rather than return without the horse, to offer 
twenty- five dollars." It is needless to say that the 
highest figure was paid, and the story caused a gen- 
eral laugh in the village at the simplicity of Jesse's 
favorite son. 1 

When Ulysses was about twelve, his father was 
awarded the contract to build the county jail at 
Georgetown. This necessitated the hauling of logs 
and other building material, and the son worked as 
a teamster in fulfilment of the plan. It was two 
miles from the woods to the site, and as the logs 
were a foot square and fourteen feet long, the load- 
ing required the aid of strong men. One day, when 
rain was threatening, the wood-cutters did not re- 
port in the forest, and Ulysses found himself alone. 
Instead of driving back for a holiday or asking for 
assistance, he took advantage of a fallen maple, 
used it as an inclined plane, hitched his horse to the 
logs, and dragged them, one by one, up the plane 
until they could be pushed on his cart, and so alone 
completed the job ! 

This was a fine training for practical life, and 

1 It is regrettable that some of Grant's political biographers 
have ruined this characteristic story, in the desire to puff, by 
manufacturing a rejoinder to the farmer by the boy that al- 
though his father had authorized him to pay twenty -five dol- 
lars, he felt that the horse was not worth more than twenty, and 
would give that amount and no more. 



26 ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

well does Lis career illustrate that there is no better 
schooling than that which is afforded by the every- 
day problems of pioneer life, where the mind is 
trained to quick thinking, and the body is urged to 
fulfil the command of the will. But this sturdy 
out-of-doors life was not the only education which 
the boy received. A small brick schoolhouse stood 
on a hill about three hundred yards from the court- 
house, near the home of the Grants, and here John 
D. White, whose son, Chilton White, was after- 
ward congressman from the district, maintained a 
subscription school. It was a wholesome school, 
although the curriculum was not elaborate. "I 
never saw an algebra, or other mathematical work 
higher than the arithmetic, in Georgetown, until 
after I was appointed to West Point," said Grant in 
the " Memoirs." One teacher taught all grades and 
subjects and maintained order and discipline in the 
orthodox and not ineffective fashion then prevailing. 
Writing to Daniel Ammen, in 1878, Grant refers to 
the time when ' ' you and I first received instruction 
under John D. White and a long beech switch cut 
generally by the boys for their own chastisement." 

A better opportunity for training was presented 
in the winter of 1836-1837, when Ulysses, now aged 
fourteen, was sent to Maysville, Ky., to visit for 
several months in the family of his great-uncle, 
Peter Grant. Here he attended the Maysville 
Seminary, conducted by Richeson and Rand, and so 
came under the influence of men of college culture. 
The records of the Philomathean Society show that 



EAELY LIFE 27 

Ulysses attended several meetings from January to 
March, 1837, and that he participated in several 
debates on public questions, quite in harmony with 
the ideals of the American boyhood of his age. 1 
When assigned to debate, he responded readily, and 
was eventually elected a member of the debate com- 
mittee, but when he was given a declamation, he 
paid his fine and was silent. 

Two years later, Jesse Grant, who was always 
keenly alert to give his son a good education, pro- 
vided Ulysses with a winter term in a boarding- 
school at Ripley, a town on the Ohio Eiver, between 
Georgetown and Maysville. Later, Grant said : 
" I was not studious in habit, and probably did not 
make progress enough to compensate for the outlay 
for board and tuition." 

Such was the environment of his boyhood. 
There was wholesome, strenuous, useful work to be 
done, — schooling in the essentials, — plenty of out- 
of-doors fun, — occasional entertainments, — reverent 

1 The researches of Hamlin Garland have brought to light the 
old minute book of the Society, with the following entries :— 

"Resolved, That the Texans were not justifiable in giving 
Santa Anna his liberty." (Affirmative, H. U. Grant.) 

" Resolved, That females wield greater influence in society 
than males." (Affirmative, H. U. Grant.) 

" Resolved, That it would not be just and politic to liberate 
the slaves at this time." (Negative, H. U. Grant.) 

"Resolved, That intemperance is a greater evil than war." 

(Affirmative, H. U. Grant.) 

" Resolved, That Socrates was right in not escaping when the 
prison doors were opened to him." (Affirmative, H. U. Grant.) 



28 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

observance of the Sabbath. This was the typical 
life of the times, arid it produced strong men for the 
period of the crisis. 

Among his comrades, Ulysses seems to have had 
an average popularity. None of them became the 
intimates of his mature life, although with some, 
such as Ammen, he always maintained a warm 
friendship. Nothing extraordinary had yet been 
indicated either in his personality or capacity, and 
few expected the realization of the extravagant hopes 
of his father. He had a boy's love for fun and 
horses, and a boy's aversion for certain kinds of 
work. Later in life he confessed, " I did not like 
to work ; but I did as much of it, while young, as 
grown men can be hired to do in these days, and 
attended school at the same time." He was a 
sturdy youngster, with a certain fidelity to the task 
assigned, lacking boisterousness, but without any 
special surface qualities to give the hope of budding 
genius. Probably the best picture of Ulysses in 
these early days is given by a Philadelphia journal- 
ist, whose boyhood was spent in Georgetown : 

"A brother of the General was a fellow ' devil ' 
in the printing office in which we were then the 
younger imp. And through him we became ac- 
quainted with Ulysses, or ' Lyss ' as he was called 
by the boys. He was then a stumpy, freckle -faced, 
big-headed country lad of fifteen or thereabouts, 
working in his father's tan -yard ; and we often 
stood by his side and exercised our amateur hand, 
under his direction, in breaking bark for the old 



EARLY LIFE 29 

bark-mill in the hollow. Though sneered at for 
his awkwardness by the scions of North Kentucky, 
who honored Georgetown with their presence, 
Ulysses was a favorite with the smaller boys of 
the village, who had learned to look up to him as a 
sort of protector. 

"We well remember the stir created by the 
appointment of the tanner's son to a cadetship at 
West Point. The surprise among the sons of our 
doctors, lawyers, and storekeepers was something 
wonderful. Indeed none of us boys, high or low, 
rich or poor, could clearly imagine how Uncle 
Sam's schoolmasters were going to transform our 
somewhat outre-looking comrade into our beau ideal 
of dandyism— a West Pointer. . . . Modest and 
unassuming, though determined, self-reliant and de- 
cisive then, as he still seems to be, we mistook his 
shy, retiring disposition for slowness, and, looked 
up to as he was by us all, we must confess that 
there was much joking at his expense as we gath- 
ered of evenings in the court-house square." 

The opportunities of life were now to be widened, 
and the country boy was to be introduced to broader 
experiences and a stricter discipline than his home 
community could present. 



CHAPTEE II 

AT WEST POINT 

To the American boy of seventeen, who has been 
trained to work and to think, no prize that destiny 
can offer is beyond reach. The first crisis in 
Ulysses's life came when, having attained his 
growth, the problem of vocation was to be de- 
termined. His father had planned to have the son 
join him in the tannery, but the years of boyish 
work had given Ulysses an unconquerable aversion 
to this occupation. As a lad, he would drive a 
team, or haul logs, or carry a message,— auy thing 
in preference to breaking the bark into the hopper 
or cleaning the hides in the beam-house. It was 
not wholly laziness, for since childhood he had been 
working steadily for his father and others, and had 
accumulated savings of $100,— a large sum for a 
youngster in his 'teens. It was rather the dislike 
which children often form to a father's occupation, 
based upon a too intimate acquaintance with the 
operations of the trade, before the love of useful 
work has come with maturity. So when Jesse 
Grant offered to take Ulysses into the tan-yard, 
the son replied that he would work for his father 
until he was twenty-one years old, but not one day 
after that at tanning ; and when his father ques- 



AT WEST POINT 31 

tioned him as to his plan for life, Ulysses said that 
he would like " to be a farmer, or a Mississippi 
trader, or to get au education." The first two am- 
bitions were within reach but did not appeal to the 
father ; the suggestion of the third at once brought 
to mind the National Military Academy at West 
Point, which several of the youth of the village bad 
attended. So the father asked, " How would you 
like to go to West Point 1 ?" to which the son re- 
plied, "First rate," and the family plan was 
formed. 

At this time, West Point had already attained to 
a unique position in American education. Founded 
in 1802, it had for years graduated a group of 
young men, many of whom, after a brief service in 
the army, had become leaders in civil life. It was 
more democratic than the typical college, for it 
drew from all classes in society ; it was more 
modern than the classical institutions, for it placed 
the emphasis on scientific studies, rather than the 
languages ; it was more distinctly American than 
any other school of learning, for its cadets were 
drawn from all over the country, and since each 
brought the traditions of his early training, the 
educational influeuce of the group upon each stu- 
dent was profound. Moreover, from the earliest 
days the discipline of the Academy was most 
effective. There was a demerit system, whereby 
each offense against good order, or decorum, was 
visited with a definite penalty, and when the de- 
merits accumulated to a sufficient degree, the 



32 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

offender was dropped from the rolls. This neces- 
sitated a constant watch over the details of con- 
duct, which stimulated self-mastery and encouraged 
habits of self-control. Under the influence of this 
system, the Academy received each year a large 
group of raw, unformed, and maybe poorly-trained 
boys, and at the end of four years, sent them forth 
well -poised and cultured gentlemen, fitted not only 
to do their work in the world, but also to represent 
worthily the dignity and honor of their country. 

Moreover, the educational advantages of such a 
training were very great. The superintendent was 
always an army officer, and usually served for a 
brief term of years ; but there was a permanent 
faculty of scholars equal in grade to the best college 
of the time, and they were assisted in the class-room 
work by the best of the recent graduates of the 
Academy. At a time when there was no free pub- 
lic high school west of the Alleghanies, and when 
many of the colleges were identified with sectarian 
control, it may be readily imagined that the dream 
of education at the National Academy would appeal 
strongly to any ambitious boy. 

Jesse Grant was not the man to rest idly after the 
plan had once been determined upon. The con- 
gressman of the district, Hon. Thomas L. Hamer, 
had been a close personal friend, but in a recent po- 
litical disputation there had been a disagreement, 
and the father consequently first addressed himself 
to Hon. Thomas Morris, senator from Ohio, asking 
for the appointment at large for Ulysses. Senator 



AT WEST POINT 33 

Morris at once replied that he could not fulfil this 
request, since having received no applications from 
his own state, he had transferred his right to ap- 
point to Pennsylvania, 1 but that there was a vacancy 
from the district, and that an application to Mr. 
Hauier would doubtless produce the desired result. 
So the father pocketed his pride, and wrote to Mr. 
Hamer, who at once exerted himself in the interest 
of his constituent, and within a few months it was 
announced that Ulysses had been appointed to the 
class which would enter the Academy in July, 1839. 
In his "Memoirs" Grant gave the following ac- 
count of his appointment : " In the winter of 1838- 
1839 I was attending school at Ripley, only ten miles 
distant from Georgetown, but spent the Christmas 
holidays at home. During this vacation my father 
received a letter from the Hon. Thomas Morris, 
then United States Senator from Ohio. When he 
read it he said to me, ' Ulysses,I believe you are go- 
ing to receive the appointment.' ' What appoint- 
ment ? ' I inquired. ' To West Point ; I have ap- 
plied for it.' ' But I won't go,' I said. He said he 
thought I would, and I thought so too, if he did. I 
really had no objection to going to West Point, ex- 
cept that I had a very exalted idea of the acquire- 
ments necessary to get through. I did not believe I 
possessed them, and could not bear the idea of fail- 

1 In the early days of Ohio, appointments were frequently 
made from outside of the state. In his " Memoirs, " General Sher- 
man records that in 1836 he went up to West Point with two 
appointees from Ohio, neither of whom had ever seen the state ! 



34 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

iug. There had been four boys from our village, or 
its immediate neighborhood, who had been grad- 
uated from West Point, and never a failure of any 
one appointed from Georgetown, except in the case 
of the one whose place I was to take. He was the 
son of Dr. Bailey, our nearest and most intimate 
neighbor. Young Bailey had been appointed in 
1837. Finding before the January examinations fol- 
lowing that he could not pass, he resigned and went 
to a private school, and remained there until the fol- 
lowing year, when he was reappointed. Dr. Bailey 
was a proud and sensitive man, and felt the failure 
of his son so keenly that he forbade his return home. 
There were no telegraphs in those days to disseminate 
news rapidly, no railroads west of the Alleghanies, 
and but few east ; and above all, there were no re- 
porters prying into other people's private affairs. 
Consequently it did not become generally known 
that there was a vacancy at West Point from our 
district until I was appointed. I presume Mrs. 
Bailey confided to my mother the fact that Bartlett 
had been dismissed and that the doctor had forbid- 
den his sou's return home." 

The gossips of Georgetown did not take kindly to 
the appointment of the tanner' s son. Prior appoint- 
ments had been conferred upon the sons of gentle- 
men in professional life, and there seemed little in 
this "short, stubby boy," "sluggish in mind and 
body," to suggest military achievement. One even 
asked Jesse why some one had not been chosen "that 
would be a credit to the district." But, disregard- 



AT WEST POINT 35 

ing criticism or praise, the family proceeded with 
the preparations for the departure of the eldest son. 

Until this time there was no uncertainty concern- 
ing the name of the future general. When his fa- 
ther applied to Mr. Hamer, he referred to his sou, 
H. Ulysses, and school records bear abundant tes- 
timony to the fact that the boy's accepted name 
was H. U. Grant. But when a neighbor made a 
trunk for his belongings, and traced on the cover, 
in big brass tacks, the initials "H. U. G." Ulysses 
protested. "It spells 'hug' and the boys would 
plague me about it," he complained, and presently 
he reversed the initials himself, and thenceforth, for 
a brief period, was known as Ulysses H. Grant. 1 

In May, 1839, the young traveler started on his 
eastern journey. The final farewells were said and 
the last greetings exchanged. When his neighbor, 
Mrs. Bailey, the mother of his predecessor at West 
Point, wept as she said " Good-bye," Ulysses pro- 
tested,— " Why, Mrs. Bailey, my own mother didn't 
cry ! ' ' Excess of outward emotion was not the 
habit of that well-poised soul ! 

The next two weeks were spent in travel, and were 
a source of keen joy to the prospective soldier. " I 
had always a great desire to travel," said Grant in 
his "Memoirs," and he naively confesses that his 
interest in the prospect of a military life was so 

1 In the manuscript collection of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania, there are letters, dated March and April of 1843, ad- 
dressed to Carey & Hart, book publishers of Philadelphia, or- 
dering illustrated editions of some of Lever's novels, signed 
" Ulysses H. Grant, Cadet, U. S. M. A." 



36 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

slight that, after seeing the cities of the east, he 
would have rejoiced in a railroad accident, if he 
might have received a temporary injury sufficient to 
make him ineligible for the Academy. Most of the 
methods of travel known to the American of that 
day were practiced before the boy arrived at West 
Point. Three days were spent on the steamboat 
from Eipley to Pittsburgh ; then several days on the 
canal from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, with the aid 
of the railroad then recently opened over the sum- 
mit of the Alleghanies ; then by rail from Harris- 
burg to Philadelphia, a new experience which 
seemed like " annihilating space." Five days were 
spent in Philadelphia in becoming acquainted with 
the many objects of interest in that historic city. 
The beautiful Grecian structure of Girard College 
was in process of building, the corner-stone having 
been laid six years before, and it specially attracted 
the attention of the sightseers. From Philadelphia, 
after a reprimand from home for delaying so long 
en route, he proceeded to New York and then to 
West Point, and on May 29, 1839, the name of 
Ulysses Hiram Grant was affixed to the Adjutant's 
record at the Military Academy. 

At this point in Grant's career, his name was 
changed to the form by which he is generally 
known. In soliciting the appointment, Congress- 
man Hamer, knowing that his neighbor Grant had a 
son named "Simpson," confounded his name with 
that of the eldest boy and made his application in 
the name of "Ulysses Simpson Grant." In this 



AT WEST POINT 37 

form the name appeared on the muster-roll ; and 
when Grant presented himself to execute the certif- 
icate of enlistment, he was obliged to sign himself 
U. S. Grant. The error could probably have been 
corrected by appeal to the Secretary of War, but 
time and trouble would have been involved in the 
necessary red tape ; so the young man accepted the 
situation, and was henceforth known officially by 
the new name. After a few years, he dropped 
Hiram, never a popular name with him, and hence- 
forth was known personally and to history as 
Ulysses Simpson Grant. 

The new initials served to give him a local fame 
far different from that which he had anticipated 
under the old. His closest associate among the 
great warriors of the crisis, William T. Sherman, 
was then a cadet at West Point in the class which 
was graduated in 1840, and years after he told the 
story of Grant's first appearance at the Academy. 
"I remember as plain as if it were yesterday 
Grant's first appearance among us. I was three 
years ahead of him. I remember seeing his name 
on the bulletin -board where the names of all the 
newcomers were posted. I ran my eye down the 
columns, and there saw U. S. Grant. Some of us 
began to make names to fit the initials. One said 
' United States Grant,' another 'Uncle Sam Grant,' 
a third shouted ' Sam Grant.' The name stuck to 
him, and by it he was henceforth known by the 
cadets of the Academy." 

The new life introduced him to the most rigorous 



38 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

discipline which could have been found in any in- 
stitution of learning in America. First there was a 
physical examination to determine his fitness for the 
work. Then there was a series of tests in elemen- 
tary branches, which Grant found not so difficult as 
he had feared. After being admitted as a cadet, 
there was then a full four years' course, which in- 
cluded algebra, higher mathematics, trigonometry, 
surveying and calculus, chemistry, mineralogy, 
electricity, magnetism, optics, and astronomy, in- 
fantry and cavalry drill, military and civil engineer- 
ing, pyrotechny and artillery, French, rhetoric, 
moral philosophy and Kent's " Commentaries," and 
landscape, topographical and figure drawing. 

In addition to these subjects, constant attention 
was required to details of dress and deportment, 
care of equipment, punctuality, and conduct. Writ- 
ing to his cousin, after three months at the Academy, 
Grant said : "I came near forgetting to tell you 
about our demerits or ' blackmarks.' They give a 
man one of these 'blackmarks' for almost nothing, 
and if he gets two hundred a year they dismiss 
him. To show how easy one can get these, a man 
by the name of Grant, of this state, got eight of 
these ' marks ' for not going to church. He was 
also put under arrest so he cannot leave his room 
perhaps for a month ; all this for not going to 
church. We are not only obliged to go to church, 
but must march there by companies. This is not 
republican. It is an Episcopal church." 

His record of demerits during his four years was 



AT WEST POINT 39 

quite extensive. In the first year he received fifty- 
nine, and was graded No. 156 on the conduct roll, 
in a total of 233 for the entire corps ; in the second 
year he received sixty-seven demerits, and was No. 
144 out of 219 ; in the third year he received ninety- 
eight demerits, and was No. 157 out of 217 ; in the 
last year he received sixty-six demerits, and was 
No. 156 in a total of 223. Most of these " black - 
marks " were awarded for lateness and negligence ; 
occasionally for failure to report the delinquencies 
of others ; once he spoke disrespectfully to a superior. 
Plainly here was no " model boy," but a live Ameri- 
can, with all of a boy's difficulty in conquering 
sluggishness and establishing accurate and exemplary 
habits under an iron-clad discipline. 

At this time, the educational organization of the 
Academy was complete and the work of instruction 
was in unusually competent hands. Major Richard 
Delafield was the superintendent, and among the 
professors and teachers were William H. C. Bartlett, 
natural and experimental philosophy ; Albert E. 
Church, mathematics ; Rev. Jaspar Adams and 
Rev. M. P. Parks, geography, history and ethics ; 
Jacob W. Bailey, chemistry, mineralogy and 
geology ; Robert W. Weir, drawing ; Claudius 
Berard, and H. R. Agnel, French ; Charles F. 
Smith, commandant of cadets, in charge of infantry 
tactics ; Alexander J. Swift, practical engineering ; 
Dennis H. Mahan, civil and military engineering ; 
Minor Knowlton, artillery and cavalry ; George G. 
Waggaman, Joseph Hooker and Irvin McDowell, 



40 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

adjutants; Ferdinand Dupari, sword-play; and 
James McAuley and Henry K>. Hershberger, ridiug 
masters. There were also a number of younger 
men who served as instructors, supervising the 
class-room work. Many of these teachers were 
officers of the army and graduates of the Academy, 
and hence thoroughly imbued with the peculiar 
traditions of the service. 

As a student, Grant showed some lines of strength 
and many of weakness. " I did not take hold of my 
studies with avidity," he states in the "Memoirs" ; 
" in fact I rarely ever read over a lesson the second 
time during my entire cadetship. ... I never 
succeeded in getting squarely at either end of my 
class, in any one study, during the four years." He 
avoided expulsion, which would have followed upon 
one hundred zero marks in six months, and he passed 
all of his examinations successfully ; but his record 
in the various branches is a comfort to those students 
who, from temperament or slow development of ca- 
pacity, lack acquaintance with the head of the class. 
Mathematics, generally regarded as the most diffi- 
cult subject of the course, gave him little trouble, 
and here he maintained a class grade of sixteen in 
the first year and ten in the second. But in French 
he was but an indifferent student, and was generally 
found in the last third of the class. 1 In his last year, 

1 When Grant was President, John Eaton, who had just re- 
turned from Europe on a tour of educational inspection, ex- 
plained to him the growing use of illustrations to aid education. 
Eaton commented on the fact that at West Point there was a 
set of illustrations of mathematical principles, but Grant said 



AT WEST POINT 41 

out of a class of thirty-nine, he attained a general 
standing of twenty-one, and in some of the branches 
his class standing was as follows : Engineering, 16 ; 
ethics, 28 ; infantry tactics, 28 ; artillery tactics, 
25 ; mineralogy and geology, 17. In his third 
year, he was appointed a sergeant, an honor which 
was based upon standing and soldierly bearing, but 
" the promotion was too much for me," writes 
Grant, and he served in his last year as a private. 

There was one branch, however, in which he was 
an acknowledged master, — horsemanship. In Sep- 
tember, 1839, a riding-master was appointed for the 
Academy, and proper provision made for mounting 
the cadets. The boyish fondness for the horse still 
dominated, and he soon was conceded to be the 
most accomplished rider at the post. In the pres- 
ence of General Winfield Scott and the official board 
of visitors, Grant made a record jump, still known 
as "Grant's jump on York," in which the horse 
leaped a bar held high over the head of the soldier 
who rested it against the wall. General James B. 
Fry, then a candidate for admission to the Acad- 
emy, tells vigorously the story of another exploit : 

" When the regular service was completed, the 
class, still mounted, was formed in a line through 
the centre of the hall. The riding-master placed 

that he did not see them in his day, adding, "I had no occa- 
sion for any aids in mathematics. The subject was so easy to 
me as to come almost by intuition." When in 1869 he was 
told that his son Fred, then a student at the Academy, did not 
excel in French, Grant promptly remarked, "That is the way 
it was with his father." 



42 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

the leapiug-bar higher than a man's head, and 
called out ' Cadet Grant ! ' A clean-faced, slender, 
blue-eyed young fellow, weighing one hundred 
and twenty pounds, dashed from the ranks on a 
powerfully built chestnut-sorrel horse and galloped 
down the opposite side of the hall. As he turned 
at the farther end and came into the stretch across 
which the bar was placed, the horse increased his 
pace, and measuring his strides for the great leap 
before him, bounded into the air and cleared the 
bar, carrying his rider as if man and beast had been 
welded together. The spectators were speechless. 
' Very well done, sir ! ' growled old Hershberger, 
the riding-master, and the class was dismissed and 
disappeared ; but Cadet Grant remained a living 
image in my memory. 

" A few mouths before graduation one of Grant's 
classmates, James A. Hardie, said to his friend and 
instructor : ' Well, sir, if a great emergency arises 
in this country during our lifetime, Sam Grant will 
be the man to meet it.' If I had heard Hardie's 
prediction I doubt not I should have believed it, for 
I thought the young man who could perform the 
feat of horsemanship, and who wore a sword, could 
do anything." 

In the life of the Academy, Grant played an in- 
conspicuous, but by no means unimportant, part. 
He did not seek friends, but those of his class and 
his intimates all bear witness to the basic qualities 
of truth, sincerity and purity which attracted them. 
His early letters to his father and mother are full of 



AT WEST POINT 43 

the ideals of patriotism suggested to hini by his new 
life. " I am rendered serious by the impressions 
which crowd upon me here at West Point. . . . 
I am full of a conviction of scorn and contempt 
. . . toward the conduct of any man who at any 
time could strike at the liberties of such a nation as 
ours." Eeferriug to a possible recurrence of the 
treason of Arnold, — "I trust my future conduct in 
such an hour would prove worthy the patriotic in- 
structions you have given." 

"I do love the place," he wrote to his cousin ; 
"it seems as though I could live here forever, if 
my friends would only come too." In writing his 
" Memoirs, " when the shadow of the grave was close, 
Grant then remembered that he had so little interest 
in his military education as to wish that a bill to 
abolish the Academy, pending in Congress during 
his first year, might pass ; but this was doubtless an 
old man's recollection of a youthful fit of homesick- 
ness. There is no contemporary record which does 
not show that Grant enjoyed the life in the Academy 
to the full, — resisting and complaining, as a healthy 
boy would do, the rigor of its discipline, but never- 
theless accepting joyfully the best that it had to 
give. The attention to details of dress and bearing 
was doubtless very irksome to his nature. "If I 
were to come home now with my uniform on, the 
way you would laugh at my appearance would be 
curious. My pants set as tight to my skin as the 
bark to a tree, and if I do not walk military, — that 
is, if I bend over quickly or run, — they are apt to 



44 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

crack with a report as loud as a pistol. My coat 
must always be buttoned up tight to the chiu. It 
is made of sheep's gray cloth, all covered with big 
rouud buttons. It makes one look very singular. 
If you were to see me at a distance, the first ques- 
tion you would ask would be, ' Is that a fish or an 
animal 1 ' " 

West Point does not give much opportunity for 
leisure to its cadets, but in his free time Grant read 
extensively of fiction from the books of the library. 
In company with others, he tried smoking, but gave 
it up because it made him sick. The favorite stu- 
dent resort was "Benny Havens," a tavern near 
Highland Falls, and here he was no stranger. 

" 'Tis said by commentators, when to other worlds we go, 
We follow the same handicraft we did in this below. 
If this be true philosophy (The Sexton, he says, No), 

What days of dance and song we'll have at Benny 
Havens, O." 

There is no evidence, however, of any dissipation 
during this period, and on the contrary it is stated 
that Grant was one of a group who took the pledge 
of total abstinence in order to help a weaker brother. 

It is probable that he experienced the usual haz- 
ing, which, when it does not degenerate into cruelty, 
helps the process of education, whereby the undis- 
ciplined " plebe" is brought into habits of subordi- 
nation. Tradition records an occasional fight and 
once when he had to take a beating from a larger 
cadet, Grant went into training, and after a second 



AT WEST POINT 45 

and third defeat was victorious on the fourth en- 
counter. At one time Grant and the classmate who 
was afterward his brother-in-law, Frederick T. 
Dent, had a heated argument on the relative merits 
of North and South, which terminated in a quarrel. 
They stripped for a fight, when the absurdity of the 
situation brought on a laugh, which ended hostili- 
ties. Grant became identified with the Dialectic 
Society, the only literary and debating association 
at the Academy, and in his last year served as 
president. 

Unquestionably, the best experience of his student 
life was the furlough, which comes between the sec- 
ond and third year, and which he afterward referred 
to as u enjoyed beyond any other period of my life." 
This was a sixty days' vacation, and Grant eagerly 
turned toward home. His father had recently 
moved from Georgetown to Bethel, twelve miles 
away, where he had established another tannery. 
During part of the journey to the west, Grant trav- 
eled with his Grandmother Simpson, and a young 
lady who was his first sweetheart, and the latter has 
stated her recollection that his most delightful char- 
acteristic was his charming courtesy to his grand- 
mother. His home-coming was joyous to the ex- 
treme. His mother's comment was "You've grown 
much straighter and taller," to which he replied, 
' ' Yes, mother, they teach us to be erect at West 
Point." His father exulted in the improvement in 
manner and appearance, and indulged more than 
ever in the exuberance of his paternal pride. A 



46 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

horse was provided, and in riding, visiting and 
merrymaking among friends, old and new, the 
happy days of vacation passed, and the young sol- 
dier returned to his work. 

During his life at West Point, Grant made many 
friends from those who were destined to be his as- 
sociates and opponents in the Civil War. William 
B. Franklin, afterward Major -General, was the 
first honor graduate of his class, aud among the 
others who attained military distinction were Isaac 
F. Quinby, Samuel G. French, Christopher C. 
Augur, Franklin Gardner, Charles S. Hamilton, 
Frederick Steele and Eufus Iugalls. In the classes 
attending from 1839 to 1843 were Sherman, Thomas, 
Eosecrans, Lougstreet, Ewell aud Buell. Buckner, 
Grant's opponent at Fort Donelson, was graduated 
one year after him, and McClellan in 1846. 

When distinction has been won, there are always 
plenty of prophets "after the fact." There is little 
reason to believe, however, that his classmates and 
teachers recognized in Grant the budding genius of 
a great warrior. It is reported of one of his teachers l 
that, when the class of 1843 was graduated, he made 
the prophecy, — "the smartest man in the class is 
little Grant ! " In the first days of the Civil War, 
General Ewell made the comment : " There is one 
West Pointer whom I hope the Northern people 
will not find out. I mean Sam Grant. ... I 
should fear him more than any of their officers I 
have yet heard of. He is not a man of genius, but 
1 Professor Davis to General Scamrnon. 



AT WEST POINT 47 

he is clear-headed, quick and daring." Grant him- 
self had once a gleam of the future. " During my 
first year's encampmeut," record the " Memoirs," 
" General Scott visited West Point, and reviewed the 
cadets. With his commanding figure, his quite 
colossal size and showy uniform, I thought him the 
finest specimen of manhood my eyes had ever be- 
held, and the most to be envied. I could never re- 
semble him in appearance, but I believe I did have 
a presentiment for a moment that some day I should 
occupy his place on review — although I had no in- 
tention then of remaining in the army." 

Most of the recorded comments of his associates 
lay stress on his personal qualities, rather than his 
ability. "He had no bad habits whatever," says 
General D. M. Frost ; "he had no facility in con- 
versation with the ladies, a total absence of elegance, 
and naturally showed off badly in contrast with the 
young Southern men." "He was a lad without 
guile," says General Viele. "I never heard him 
utter a profane or vulgar word." " Perfect was his 
sense of honor," says General Longstreet. "He 
had the most scrupulous regard for truth," says 
Hardie. Perhaps the most complete pen-picture 
from his fellow-students is that of Henry Coppee, 
who was two years below him in the Academy, and 
afterward his biographer : 

"I remember him as a plain, common-sense, 
straightforward youth ; quiet, calm, thoughtful, and 
unaggressive ; shunning notoriety ; quite contented, 
while others were grumbling ; taking to his military 



48 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

duties in a very businesslike manner ; not a prom- 
inent man in the corps, but respected by all, and 
very popular with his friends. His sobriquet of 
Uncle Sam was given to him there, when every good 
fellow had a nickname, from these very qualities ; 
indeed, he was a very much liked sort of youth. 
He was then and always an excellent horseman, and 
his picture rises before me, as I write, in the old torn 
coat, obsolescent leather gig-top, loose riding panta- 
loons, with spurs buckled over them, going with his 
clanking sabre to the drill-hall. He exhibited but 
little enthusiasm in anything ; his best standing was 
in the mathematical branches, and their application 
to tactics and military engineering." 

From the faculty, Professor Mahan, long honored 
as one of the most eminent teachers in the service, 
has said : 

" Grant is remembered at his Alma Mater as hav- 
ing a cheery and at the same time firm aspect and a 
prompt, decided manuer. His class standing was 
among that grade which has given to the line of the 
army some of its most valuable officers, like Lyon, 
Eeyuolds, Sedgwick, etc. Unlike Lee, subsequently 
to graduating, he had none of the aids toward dis- 
tinction which social position in private life and 
nearness to the commanding general in military life 
affords. He was what we termed a first section 
man in all his scientific branches ; that is one who 
accomplishes the full course. He always showed 
himself a clear thinker and a steady worker. He 
belonged to the class of compactly strong men who 



AT WEST POINT 49 

went at their work at once, and kept at it until 
they had finished ; never being seen like the slack- 
twisted class, yawning, lolling on their elbows over 
their work, and looking as if just ready to sink 
down from mental inanity. Grant's round, cheery, 
boyish face, though marked with character and 
quiet manner, gave no evidence of what he has 
since shown he possesses. His mental machine was 
of the powerful, low-pressure class, which condenses 
its own steam and consumes its own smoke ; aud 
which pushes steadily forward and drives all ob- 
stacles before it." 

With his class, he was graduated in June, 1843, 
as brevet second lieutenant, and although he had 
expressed a preference for the dragoons, yet as the 
only cavalry regiment in the service had its full 
complement of officers, he was assigned to the 
Fourth U. S. Infantry. 

The brand was forged for the using — aud the 
young man was now equipped for the battle of life. 



CHAPTER III 

ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 

In 1843 the regular army of the United States 
numbered about 7,500 meu, aud consequently the 
Military Academy graduated far more officers than 
were required by the immediate needs of the service. 
When Grant received, therefore, a brevet as second 
lieutenant, it gave him the rank and pay of the 
grade, but he was assigned to a regiment as a super- 
numerary. Before proceeding to his post, he en- 
joyed a three months' furlough, and repeated the 
pleasures of the vacation, two years before, in his 
father's home at Bethel. The pride of the family 
in their soldier may well be imagined, and when at 
last his uniform arrived, it brought them to the 
highest round of bliss. 

In the "Memoirs," Grant refers to two circum- 
stances which dulled the edge of his boyish satisfac- 
tion. In full uniform, he rode to Cincinnati, and 
while idling around the streets of that city, he at- 
tracted the attention of a ragged street-urchin, who 
derisively sang out, " Soldier ! will you work % No, 
sir-ee ; I'll sell my shirt first." At another time in 
Bethel, a dissipated hostler paraded up and down the 
street before Grant's home, barefoot, but in sky-blue 
trousers, with a strip of white cotton sewed down 



ELEVEN YEAKS IN THE AEMY 51 

the outside seams, in imitation of the uniform. 
These two events, together with an innate aversion 
to parade, gave the young soldier a distaste for 
military dress, which was often remarked later in 
his career. 

Iu September he left his family to report for duty 
at St. Louis, where sixteen companies were then 
stationed under the command of Colonel Steven 
Kearney. Here he had his first taste of real gar- 
rison life, with its monotony of roll-call, drill and 
parade, and here also he met with the real romance 
of his life. About five miles from the barracks was 
White Haven, the home of a classmate at the 
Academy, Frederick T. Dent, who had been his 
roommate during his fourth year. " Colonel " 
Dent, as the father was called, had an extensive 
plantation, and owned enough negroes to enable 
him to live in characteristic Southern comfort. The 
oldest daughter, Julia, then a girl of seventeen, soon 
engaged the attention of the lieutenant, and in the 
ample leisure which the garrison afforded there de- 
veloped a mutual affection. The other officers were 
not unobservant of the course of events, and Long- 
street, afterward Lee's chief lieutenant, records how 
some teased the maiden about the devotion of the 
"small lieutenant with the large epaulettes." 

At this time, Grant had no thought of a perma- 
nent life in the army. His ambition was to become 
a professor, probably of mathematics, in some small 
college, and as the first step he wrote to Professor 
Church at West Point asking for a detail to the 



52 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

Academy as an assistant. The answer was encour- 
aging, and in preparation for the expected assign- 
ment, he devoted much of his free time to mathe- 
matical study aud historical reading. Before this 
expectation could be realized, however, the long 
peace which had continued for a generation was 
broken, and the nation, through the policy of its 
leaders, found itself committed to what Grant, as 
well as many others, called the " unholy " war with 
Mexico. 

The attitude of the chronicler toward this conflict 
must necessarily vary with the standpoint of the 
writer. To some, the war was founded on an unjust 
desire for territorial aggrandizement, in order to 
provide additional room for the expansion of 
slavery, and the making of slave states. Others 
regarded it as a heroic conflict, based on the over-, 
powering impulse of fraternity, which led the nation 
to help those of its own blood to obtain freedom 
from Mexican interference. There were many who 
regarded the struggle as merely the natural expres- 
sion of the desire of the nation to find a western out- 
let for migration and commerce. Grant accepted 
the first of these standpoints, and while not an 
Abolitionist, he nevertheless sympathized with the 
Mexicans as the underdog in a contest in which 
the United States was unquestionably the aggressor. 

The circumstances which inaugurated the strife 
were as follows : — Texas had been peopled largely 
by Americans who had taken advantage of the 
liberal offers of the Mexican Government, and 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 53 

moved there with their slaves and other property. 
To its territory, the United States had given up 
any claim by the treaty of 1819 with Spain, and it 
was regarded as a province of Mexico during all 
of the troubles which succeeded the overthrow of 
the Spanish authority. There was little sympathy, 
either of race, religion or ideal, between the Texan 
and the Mexican, and eventually the Texaus de- 
manded to be separated froni Coahuila, with which 
province their state had been combined by the 
Mexican Constitution of 1827. This demand was 
refused, and the Texans rebelled, and by the one 
victory of San Jacinto in 1836, the Mexican author- 
ity was overthrown. At once the Southern leaders 
demanded that Texas should be admitted as a state 
• of the Union, and while the demand was opposed 
at the North, the election of 1844 was regarded as a 
Victory for annexation, and on March 1, 1845, 
President Tyler signed a resolution admitting Texas 
to the American Union. 

As Mexico had never formally recognized the in- 
dependence of Texas, this action might have been 
regarded as a casus belli, and yet there is good 
reason to believe that war would have been 
averted if a moderate policy had been adopted. 
The immediate cause of the conflict was a boundary 
dispute. Texas claimed that its southwestern limit 
was the Rio Grande, while Mexico would concede 
only to the Neuces River, about one hundred and 
fifty miles to the east on the coast line. Hostilities 
therefore were precipitated over the control of a 



54 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

narrow strip of laud between the two rivers, which 
at this time was almost uninhabited. The Texan 
question was the leading national problem during 
Grant's residence at St. Louis, and the determining 
factor in sending him to the field of battle. 

In May, 1844, the garrison at St. Louis was 
ordered to the South. Having just received a 
brief furlough, Grant hastened to Bethel, for his 
last vacation at home for over four years. Upon 
his return to St. Louis, he found orders to join his 
regiment, but he took time to ride out to White 
Haven, and there to declare his love. Fortunately, 
his affection was reciprocated, and Miss Julia Dent 
was willing to await her soldier's return, — so With 
a new-found impulse in life, Grant went down the 
Mississippi River and overtook the Fourth in the 
piue woods near Natchitoches, at Fort Salubrity. 
Here he spent over a year in a healthy, busy, oiw- 
of-door life, under most delightful auspices. In 
May, 1845, he obtained a short leave of absence 
and went to St. Louis, where he secured the re- 
luctant consent of Colonel Dent to his engagement 
with Julia. A few days the lovers spent together 
and then they parted, not to meet again until the 
war should have been fought, and the knight had 
fairly won his spurs. 

In July, 1845, the regiment was ordered to New 
Orleans, then in the throes of a yellow fever epi- 
demic, and after two months in barracks, they were 
shipped by sailing vessels to Texas, landing at 
Corpus Christi at the mouth of the Neuces River. 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 55 

Here there was gradually assembled an " Army of 
Occupation," consisting of about three thousand 
men, of the regular army, under the command of 
Zachary Taylor. Several months were spent in 
organizing this force into a quick- moving column. 
When the youug officers found the ennui of the 
winter overpowering, they erected a theatre, and 
Grant participated in amateur theatricals. While 
in camp here, he received his commission as a full 
second lieutenant, but as he was now appointed to 
the Seventh Infantry, he exchanged with Franklin 
Gardner, afterward Confederate commander at Port 
Hudson, so as to be returned to his old regiment. 

President Polk and his advisers were desirous 
that the Mexicans should make the first aggressive 
move, and had hoped that the presence of Taylor's 
^my on the eastern edge of the disputed terri- 
tory would induce the Mexican forces to attack. 
This expectation was disappointed, and in March, 
1846, Taylor was ordered westward to the Rio 
Grande. After a few days' march over a desolate 
country, the Rio Grande was reached, and Taylor 
at once started the erection of a fort opposite to the 
Mexican city of Matamoras. At last the Mexicans 
were aroused, and crossing the river, they attacked 
any small bodies of Americans who were far from 
camp. In one of these skirmishes, some Americans 
were killed, and so finally the President could an- 
nounce that "American blood had been shed on 
American soil." A declaration of war resulted, 
and the conflict thus commenced. 



56 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Leaving Major Brown in command of the fort, 
Taylor marched his main body to his base of sup- 
plies on the Gulf, Point Isabel, just above the mouth 
of the Rio Grande. With some reinforcements, he 
then started upon his return to Fort Brown, twenty- 
five miles away. It was evident that the Mexicans 
had taken advantage of his absence to invest the 
fort, and had possessed themselves of the interven- 
ing country in such numbers as to make a battle 
inevitable. On May 8th, on approaching the edge 
of a prairie near a piece of woods about fourteen 
miles from the fort, Taylor found the enemy drawn 
up in line of battle. Palo Alto is the Spanish term 
for "high trees," and here the first battle was 
fought. Taylor sent forth his artillery, meanwhile 
halting his men out of the range of the antiquated 
and poorly-served Mexican cannon. After a few 
hours' cannonade, the Mexicans* withdrew, and 
made their next stand on May 9th at Resaca de la 
Palma, on the opposite side of a long narrow pond, 
flanked by a heavy growth of underbrush, called 
chaparral. Here a real resistance was made for 
about two hours, but by judicious flanking move- 
ments, and eventually a fervid attack, the Ameri- 
cans succeeded in capturing the cannon of the 
Mexicans, and the latter fled in panic. 

These were Grant's first battles, and they seemed 
to him to be " pretty important affairs. " At Resaca, 
his captain having been assigned to a special flank- 
ing work, he was in command of his company. 
Once, seeing an opening between two ponds, he 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 57 

ordered his men to the charge, and took a few 
prisoners. His chagrin may be imagined, however, 
when presently an American soldier returned from 
the front with a wounded officer, and Grant learued 
that this ground had been already charged over and 
won. "This left no doubt in my mind," says he, 
" that the battle of Resaca de la Palma would have 
been won, just the same, if I had not been there." 
Writing to a friend shortly after, he said : "You 
want to know what my feelings were on the field of 
battle. I do not know that I felt any peculiar 
sensation. War seems much less terrible to persons 
engaged in it than to those who read of the battles." 
Upon learning of the declaration of war, Taylor 
transferred his army to the south side of the Rio 
Grande, and took possession of Matamoras. Here 
he was joined by substantial reinforcements, in- 
cluding an Ohio regiment, of which the major was 
Thomas L. Hamer, who, several years before, had 
nominated Grant to West Point, and who now re- 
newed a loyal friendship with his former neighbor. 1 

1 In a letter written from Camargo, Hamer said, " I have 
found in Lieutenant Grant a most remarkable and valuable 
young soldier. I anticipate for him a brilliant future if he 
should have an opportunity to display his powers when they 
mature. Young as he is, he has been of great value and service 
to me. To-day, after being freed from the duty of wrestling 
with the problems of reducing a train of refractory mules and 
their drivers to submissive order, we rode into the country 
several miles, and taking our position upon an elevated mound, 
he explained to me many army evolutions ; and supposing our- 
selves to be generals commanding opposite armies, and a battle 
to be in progress, he explained supposititious manoeuvres of the 
opposing forces in a most instructive way ; and when I thought 



58 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

In August, Taylor marched up the Eio Grande to 
Caniargo, the head of navigation on the river, and 
then went into the interior, intent upon the capture 
of Monterey, the leading city of Northern Mexico. 
At Camargo, Grant was appointed quartermaster 
and commissary of his regiment. This new duty 
removed him from the line of battle, and caused 
several unavailing protests on his part ; eventually, 
however, he found it possible to perform his full 
duty in this service and yet to participate in the 
actual fighting. 

Monterey was a fortified town of from fifteen to 
twenty thousand population. It was defended by 
General Ampudia with about ten thousand men. 
Taylor, with little more than one-half of this force, 
sighted the town on September 19, 184G, and at 
once planned his attack. General Worth, with his 
division, was assigned the task of stormiug the 
Bishop's Palace, approaching from the west by the 
Saltillo road. The other divisions, under Generals 
Butler and Twiggs, were drawn up to threaten the 
north and east sides of the city, in support of the 
main attack under Worth. The resistance was 
stubborn, and as all the advantages of position and 
numbers were with Ampudia, the Americans made 
but slow headway. Eventually Quitman's Brigade, 

his imaginary force had my army routed, he suddenly suggested 
a strategic move for my forces which crowned them with 
triumphant victory, and himself with defeat and he ended by 
gracefully offering to surrender his sword ! Of course, Lieuten- 
ant Grant is too youug for command, but his capacity for future 
military usefulness is undoubted." 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 59 

to which the Fourth Infantry, under Lieutenant- 
Colonel Garland, was attached, forced an entrance at 
the east end of the city, and fought its way down the 
main street to the well-fortified plaza. At onetime 
Garland, finding his ammunition running low, called 
for a volunteer to ride to the division commander, 
General Twiggs, for new supplies. It was a 
desperate commission, as the messenger must ride 
down an avenue in which every crossroad was oc- 
cupied by well-armed Mexicans. Grant at once 
offered himself, aud riding Indian fashion, with one 
foot over the saddle and his hand in the horse's 
mane, rode through a torrent of fire to the com- 
manding officer, and so fulfilled his mission. 
Eventually, Garland's attack was repulsed, but 
meanwhile Worth had been approaching from the 
other side, and by directing his men to break 
through the flimsy walls of the houses, prevented 
the Mexicans from utilizing the advantages of their 
position. When the plaza was reached, Ampudia 
surrendered and Monterey was fairly won. 

The success of Taylor's campaign had aroused 
much enthusiasm at home, and had given to " Old 
Rough and Ready," as he was commonly called, an 
unbounded popularity. It was evident that some 
political leaders, always keen to appreciate the ad- 
vantage of military glory in a candidate, were al- 
ready canvassiug the possibilities in his name for 
the Presidency. Considerations of political ex- 
pediency, therefore, were not without their influence 
in determining the administration to send another 



60 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

army to Mexico, and for the command, General 
Winfield Scott, the head of the army, although in 
his sixty-first year, was appointed. He had urged 
strongly the necessity of striking a blow at the 
capital city, so as to conclude a peace in the Hall of 
the Montezumas. When this expedition was finally 
authorized, Scott withdrew some regiments of reg- 
ulars from Taylor, including the Fourth Infantry, 
and even empowered him to fall back to the line of 
the Eio Grande. But the latter was reluctant to 
give up the territory which had been won with so 
much sacrifice, and consequently with his depleted 
forces, he was exposed to an overwhelming attack 
from the Mexicans under their President, the enter- 
prising Santa Anna. But in February, 1847, at the 
battle of Buena Vista, Taylor won a complete vic- 
tory over an enemy outnumbering his army four- 
fold, and so closed the campaign in North Mexico 
with a continuous record of triumphs. 

This was the only considerable battle of the war 
in which Grant was not a participant. In December, 
1846, his regiment was sent to the mouth of the Bio 
Grande to await the assembling of the Army of In- 
vasion. It was March, 1847, before Scott had finally 
disembarked his men three miles south of Vera 
Cruz, and a little band of eleven thousand Ameri- 
cans set out to overthrow an empire of seven mil- 
lions. Vera Cruz, then a walled city with a fortress 
on an island in the harbor, was the gateway to 
Mexico. It was quickly invested, and subjected to 
a vigorous bombardment. After a few days, Gen- 



ELEVEN YEAES IN THE AEMY 61 

eral Morales indicated a willingness to surrender, 
and on March 29, 1847, the fortress and city were 
occupied by the Americans. 

Without delaying to enjoy the fruits of victory, 
Scott decided to push into the interior at once, in 
order to reach the high and healthy ground before 
the season of the fever. The City of Mexico was 
situated about two hundred and sixty miles to the 
west, and the route which the Americans adopted 
involved the occupation of Jalapa and Puebla, 
both populous and important cities. In the second 
week of April, the invaders started on their western 
march, but on April 18th, when they arrived at 
Cerro Gordo, about twelve or fifteen miles east of 
Jalapa, they found the Mexicans entrenched in a 
position of great natural strength. The road here 
zigzagged around a high mountain, and was de- 
fended at every turn by artillery, and protected on 
the sides by chasms or mountain walls. Since di- 
rect progress was blocked, the engineers cut paths 
over the mountains to the rear of the Mexicans, and 
placed artillery in position to command the enemy, 
traveling by paths which Santa Anna confessed that 
he did not think even a goat could have used. 
Whereupon, the greater portion of the Mexican 
forces fled in disorder, leaving artillery, stores and 
three thousand prisoners. Years afterward, in com- 
menting upon Scott's superb leadership, Grant said 
of Cerro Gordo, " This attack was made as ordered, 
and perhaps there was not a battle of the Mexican 
War, or any other, where orders issued before an 



62 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

engagement were nearer being a correct report of 
what afterward took place." 

" Between the thrashing the Mexicans have got 
at Bueua Vista, Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo, they 
are so completely broken up that if we only had 
transportation we could go to the City of Mexico 
and wherever else we liked without resistance." So 
wrote Grant to a friend on May 3d, when the army 
was recuperating in the high ground around Jalapa. 
Here Scott was obliged to delay several months 
awaiting reinforcements to take the place of the men 
whose period of enlistment had expired. At one 
time his army was reduced to 5,000 men, but he 
pushed forward his advance guard to Perote and 
Puebla, and by August he had received sufficient 
forces to enable him to renew his triumphant march. 
The City of Mexico is situated in a wide, flat val- 
ley, 7,000 feet above sea-level, surrounded by moun- 
tains and lakes in a position of great natural strength. 
Having determined upon his line of approach, Scott, 
on August 20th, made his initial attack on the vil- 
lage of Contreras, when the Americans advanced 
with such impetuosity as to rout the enemy in fif- 
teen minutes. At the same time another division 
was advancing on the causeway which led to the 
village of Churubusco, and here the Americans en- 
countered the most stubborn resistance of the cam- 
paign. But the valor of the invaders, and the 
strategy of their commanders, which later Grant 
pronounced to be "faultless," culminated in the 
usual result, and the Mexicans gave up their posi- 



ELEVEN YEAES IN THE AEMY G3 

tion with great loss in numbers, equipment and 
morale. Negotiations were now opened for peace, 
and for a few weeks the armies rested ; but Scott 
soon concluded that the enemy was sparring for 
time, and on September 8th, the advance was re- 
sumed with an, attack by Worth's division upon 
Molino del Rey, or "The King's Mills." Scott 
had heard that this place was used as a cannon 
foundry, and so desired to take possession of it. 
When the Mexicans were finally driven into the 
mill, Grant, who was in the forefront of the charge, 
found his classmate Dent seriously wounded, and by 
his coolness and skill in all human probability 
saved the life of his future brother-in-law. 

The last defense of the capital was the castle of 
Chapultepec, a strongly manned fortress on an 
eminence, formerly used as a military academy. 
On September 13th, the invaders stormed this po- 
sition, and after a battle in which the resistance was 
unusually prolonged, won what proved to be the 
final victory of the war. Here two opportunities 
for personal distinction came to Grant, both of 
which he accepted with the readiness of the re- 
sourceful soldier. In the retreat from Chapultepec, 
Grant was with the advance of his division, when 
at a turn in the road the Americans were blocked 
by the fierce fire of the Mexicans. By a personal 
reconnoitre he found a path to the rear of the 
enemy's position, under the protection of the wall 
of a hacienda, and with a few men, who willingly 
followed his leadership, he placed the Mexicans un- 



64 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

der two fires and so forced their position. Later in 
the pursuit he took possession of the church on the 
San Cosme road and dragged a mountain howitzer 
over several ditches breast-high with water to the 
top of the bell-tower, thus enabling him to shell the 
houses and roads in which the Mexicans were 
massed, to the astonishment and dismay of the 
enemy. The success of this enterprise was noted by 
General Worth, who sent a staff officer, Lieutenant 
Pemberton, afterward Grant's opponent at Vicks- 
burg, to bring Grant to him, and then directed that 
a second howitzer be placed in the tower. " I did 
not tell the General that there was not room enough 
in the steeple for another gun," says Grant, who 
never regarded Worth with favor, "because he 
probably would have looked upon such a statement 
as a contradiction from a second lieutenant." 

Successive victories had broken the fighting spirit 
of the Mexicans. During the night Santa Anna 
fled with the remnant of his army, and on Septem- 
ber 14th General Scott in triumph marched into the 
city. 

Of all that took place in these stirring times 
Grant was a close observer. General Taylor with 
his simplicity and sturdiness, General Scott with his 
love of parade and martial glory, the various divi- 
sion and regimental commanders, — from all of these 
he was able to learn valuable lessons in the conduct 
of war. His long service as quartermaster gave him 
an unusual insight into the organization of an army, 
and the management of its business, which later on 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 65 

was to contribute greatly to his effectiveness as a 
commander. He now had also his first opportunity 
to observe the life of a foreign people, and his ex- 
periences during the nine months' occupation of the 
City of Mexico, while the terms of peace were being 
determined, gave him a warm admiration for the 
Mexican, which was often asserted in later life. 
Unlike some of his associates, he did not underrate 
the enemy, and brand him with cowardice. He saw 
clearly that the successive Mexican defeats were due 
to administrative disorganization, inefficient leader- 
ship, and to a lack of national consciousness. ' ' The 
trouble seemed to be the lack of experience among 
the officers which led them after a time to simply 
quit, without being particularly whipped, but be- 
cause they had fought enough." 

While the capital was occupied by the Ameri- 
cans, Grant, from curiosity, attended a bull-fight, 
and recorded that " the sight to me was sickening." 
In company with a party of other officers, he as- 
cended Popocatepetl, the great volcano, and later 
went through the famous Mexican caves. In the 
City of Mexico the invaders organized the Aztec 
Club, of which Franklin Pierce was the first presi- 
dent, and whose original membership included 
McClellan, Hooker, Porter, Lee, Johnston, Beaure- 
gard, Hardee, Ewell and Grant. There were many 
opportunities for Grant to become well acquainted 
with these leaders, among whom later on, in the 
Civil War, he was destined to win his imperishable 
renown. 



66 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Meanwhile, Grant was attracting the attention of 
his superiors. In September, 1847, he was ad- 
vanced to a first lieutenancy, and when the final re- 
ports of the military operations were prepared, it 
was found that he was personally commended for 
gallantry and resourcefulness by Captain Horace 
Brooks, of the Second Artillery, Major Lee, of the 
Fourth Infantry, and General Garland, of his 
brigade. And in the report of General Worth, his 
work with the mountain howitzer at Chapultepec 
was mentioned. As quartermaster, he showed his 
enterprise in renting a bakery and operating it for 
the benefit of the regiment, so providing funds for 
the band. On the return from Mexico, however, he 
met with a misfortune which caused him consider- 
able annoyance and chagrin. As the lock of his 
chest was broken, he deposited $1,000 of the funds 
of the regiment with Captain Gore, and one night 
the latter' s trunk, containing this deposit, was 
stolen from his tent. Grant at once reported the 
loss, and forwarded corroborative affidavits, and he 
was exonerated from all blame. Not until 1862, 
however, in the early days of the Civil War, was a 
resolution finally passed in Congress releasing the 
quartermaster from all personal liability in the 
matter. 

The war with Mexico was ended on February 2, 
1848, by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which 
ceded Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona 
to the United States, as well as a large portion 
of several other states, upon payment of $15,000,- 



ELEVEN YEAES IN THE AEMY 67 

000. ' Some mouths elapsed before the treaty was 
finally ratified, but in June, 1848, the army started 
on its return to Vera Cruz. Grant's regiment was 
ordered to Mississippi, but he obtained a leave 
of absence, and at once returned to St. Louis to 
fulfil a promise of four years' standing. During 
this period he had attained to honorable distinction 
and had rendered special service on three different 
battle-fields, — he had won his first promotion and 
two brevets for gallantry, and he had a personal 
claim to a cordial welcome from the family at White ( 

Haven, because of his service at Molino to the 
brother of his betrothed. On August 22, 1848, the 
young couple, whose fidelity had been tested by 
four years of separation, were quietly married, 2 and 
Grant at once took his bride to the East on a visit 
to his own family. A few happy weeks were spent 
with Jesse Grant at Bethel, and later with relatives 
at Bantam and Georgetown. From his old neigh- 
bors, Grant received a welcome whose cordiality 
showed their pride in his excellent start. His 



1 Extract from General Scott's testimony before a Congres- 
sional Committee : "I give it as my fixed opinion, that but 
for our graduated cadets, the war between the United States 
and Mexico might, and probably would, have lasted some four 
or five years, with, in its first half, more defeats than victories 
falling to our share ; whereas, in less than two campaigns, we 
conquered a great country and a peace, without the loss of a 
single battle or skirmish." 

2 Among the young officers who attended the wedding were 
Cadmus M. Wiloox, who was one of the groomsmen, and James 
Longstreet, both of whom were afterward officers in the Con- 
federate Army, and included in the surrender at Appomattox. 



68 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

father and mother rejoiced, the latter more quietly 
than the former, in the promise of his career. His 
stories of the war were clearly told, and all of the 
stay-at-homes crowded to listen. These were halcyon 
days ! 

On November 17, 1848, Lieutenant Grant joined 

his regiment at Detroit, and a few days afterward, 

was ordered to Sacketts Harbor, on Lake Ontario, 

where he and Mrs. Grant lived in the barracks 

until the following spring. In April he returned 

to Detroit for two years of garrison duty. There is 

but little to record of this period of his service. He 

lived very modestly, but his quarters were cozy and 

homelike. He was always sociable and attended 

with his wife the various functions of the officers of 

the garrison. His love of fast horses was his only 

special characteristic, and generally caused his only 

extravagances. At Sacketts Harbor he attended 

church, and aided in organizing a lodge of the Sons 

of Temperance at the barracks. He once remarked 

to a friend in refusing to join a drinking party, " I 

heard John B. Gough lecture a short time ago, and 

I have become convinced that there is no safety 

from ruin by liquor except by abstaining from it 

altogether." His Mexican experiences gave him 

abundant subjects for conversation, and his clear 

and vivid explanations of the campaigns helped 

him to establish a reputation for sociability among 

his comrades. In 1850, Mrs. Grant returned for a 

time to her father's home, where a son was born, 

who was named Frederick Dent Grant, and so the 



ELEVEN YEAES IN THE AEMY 69 

perfect joy of married life was finally attained. 1 
Afterward the mother and child came back to the 
garrison, and the reunited family spent a happy 
winter together. An unusual incident brought 
Grant into a controversy with Zacbary Chandler, 
then a rising young merchant, but later a national 
leader of the Republican party. Grant filed a sworn 
complaint against Chandler for violating a local 
ordinance requiring the removal of ice from the 
sidewalk, but although he proved his case, public 
sympathy with the civilian induced a fine of but six 
cents and costs ! , 

Nothing detracts so much from the enjoyment of 
domestic life by, an army officer as the uncertainty 
of his location. In June, 1851, Grant was again or- 
dered to Sacketts Harbor, in preparation for re- 
moval to the Pacific coast, where the tremendous 
emigration had brought about problems which 
necessitated the maintenance of extensive garri- 
sons. The final orders came in the spring of 
1852, and as the regiment was to be transported 
by way of Panama, the hardship of travel made 
it impossible for the wife and child to accompany 
him. So it was decided that Grant should go alone, 
and his family returned to Bethel (where the sec- 
ond son, Ulysses S., Jr., was born), and later went 
to White Haven. 

On July 5, 1852, eight companies of the Fourth 
embarked from Governor's Island, New York, on 

1 Afterward a graduate of West Point and Major-General in 
the Army of the United States. 



70 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

the steamer Ohio. There were over eight hundred 
in the expedition including women and children, as 
well as civilian passengers, and for several days 
they endured all of the discomforts of ocean travel 
in tropical weather, with insufficient accommoda- 
tion. At Aspinwall on the east side of the Isthmus, 
they found but scanty transportation provided, and 
Grant, as quartermaster, was obliged to assume en- 
tire charge of the business arrangements of the 
party. When eventually they reached the Pacific, 
the cholera was raging and many died,— thirty- 
seven in one day. " About one-seventh of those 
who left New York harbor with the Fourth In- 
fantry . . . now lie buried on the Isthmus," 
said Grant. The epidemic threw a heavy responsi- 
bility on the young commissary, and right man- 
fully did he meet it. Hospital facilities were to be 
-provided, medicine to be supplied, the dead must be 
buried and their effects cared for, and all of the de- 
tails were in his hands. Later on, one who had 
taken this unfortunate trip said : " Grant seemed to 
be a man of iron, so far as endurance went, seldom 
sleeping, and then only two or three hours at a 
time. ... He was like a ministering angel to 
us all." 

When the plague had run its course, the survivors 
were taken to San Francisco, and then after several 
weeks to Fort Vancouver, on the Columbia River, 
where Grant served for one year. In Jiily, 1853,/in 
the performance of his duties as quartermaster, he 
fitted out the expedition for the first survey of the 



ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ARMY 71 

Northern Pacific Railroad, then under the charge of 
George B. McClellan, and for several weeks these 
two young officers were in close association. The 
life at Vancouver was not congenial to Grant ; he 
had enjoyed domestic life so keenly in the prior 
period that now he felt to an unusual degree the 
absence of his family. Ouce he showed to an old 
artillery sergeant a letter whereon his wife had laid 
the baby's hand and traced its outline with a pencil, 
and his friend records that as he folded the letter, 
while he said nothing, his eyes were wet. More- 
over, with an increasing family, there were weighty 
responsibilities. In order to add to his income he 
entered into business ventures which, with the 
fatality that followed him through life, resulted in- 
variably in loss. In association with Lieutenant 
Wallen, he rented a piece of ground and planted 
potatoes as a speculation ; but others had done the 
same, so the market was over-supplied, and even- 
tually when the river floods washed away their 
crop, the farmers rejoiced. He went into a partner- 
ship with his classmate, Rufus Ingalls, to cut and 
ship ice to San Francisco, but adverse winds held 
back their boat until the ice was of little value. 
He next became interested in buying and selling 
hogs, and lost some of his small savings in this 
venture. At length he was promoted to a cap- 
taincy, and ordered to Fort Humboldt, two hun- 
dred and forty miles north of San Francisco. Here 
he served during the winter of 1853-1854, until 
April, when, discouraged by the outlook and dis- 



72 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

appointed with himself, he determined to retire 
from the army. 

He was now to learn the first essential of success, 
— the necessity of self-conquest ! 









CHAPTEE IV 

THE YEARS OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 

Whenever a man turns aside from a work in 
which he has made a good start, and begins along 
new lines, he loses impact and momentum ; especially 
is this the case when the career he abandons is one 
for which a special or professional training is re- 
quired. No part of Grant's life has caused more 
controversy than the period of seven years from the 
beginning of his service at Fort Humboldt to the 
outbreak of the Civil War, and especially the 
reasons which led him to resign from the army. 
No consideration of hero-worship can justify a 
garbled version of the facts, and the truth only can 
give a proper understanding of his character. 

During the period of Grant's life on the Pacific, 
he found himself identified with a society which was 
new and unformed, and in large measure primitive 
and turbulent. The tremendous migration, follow- 
ing upon the discovery of gold in California, had 
made the West the haven for wild and adventurous 
spirits, not only of America, but of Europe as well. 
The standards of life were yet to be adopted, and 
there was no well-defined social tone to keep con- 
duct under restraint. Many of the soldiers drank, 



74 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

some to excess, and it is not strange that the young 
captain, far removed from the wholesome influence 
of wife and family, also yielded to temptation. He 
was not an habitual drunkard, but occasionally he 
would drink too much, — he afterward learned that a 
little would go far in the mastery of his peculiar 
system. He had not the capacity which was attrib- 
uted to a distinguished contemporary in the ser- 
vice, of whom it was said that he could consume five 
bottles of champagne at one sitting, and then plan a 
battle ! When Grant's friends remonstrated with 
him, he acknowledged his error and would promise 
amendment. But at Fort Humboldt he came under 
influences which were specially chilling to one suf- 
fering as he was from loneliness and homesickness. 
The commander of the post, Lieutenant- Colonel 
Eobert C. Buchanan, was a martinet of an unusually 
unsympathetic type. Tradition records of him that 
he once refused to receive an officer's report, declar- 
ing that the latter was not in uniform, — all because 
his collar had become unhooked, — and not uutil 
some other had pointed out the fault to the unfor- 
tunate subordinate was he allowed to proceed with 
his duty. Moreover, Grant was no longer serving 
as quartermaster, and he had more free time than he 
had been accustomed to ; the ordinary pleasures of a 
garrison, — dancing and social life, — did not appeal to 
him, and he sought his recreation in long hard rides, 
generally without a companion. 

One day, in 1854, while the company was being 
paid off, Grant was at the pay-table slightly under 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 75 

the influence of liquor. He was not on duty ; bis 
offense might have been made the basis for friendly 
counsel which, to the lonely and discouraged man, 
would have been most welcome. But when Bu- 
chanan heard of this breach, he at once sent for 
Grant and gave him the option between resigning 
or standing trial on charges. Grant forthwith re- 
signed, and this ended his connection with the 
service. Among his fellow-officers, it was felt that 
Buchanan had been unnecessarily harsh, and it was 
the general feeling that if Grant had stood trial, he 
might not have been condemned. 1 

The records of the Adjutant-General's office at 
Washington show that Grant accepted his commis- 
sion as captain on April 11, 1854, and on the same 
day forwarded his resignation to take effect on July 
31st. Jefferson Davis was then Secretary of War, 
and acting upon the recommendation of the various 
departmental chiefs, he accepted the resignation, 
and so for a time Grant's connection with the army 
ceased. There is not a syllable in the correspond- 
ence which indicates any reason for the retire- 
ment. 

It is probable that Grant reached this important 
conclusion without any advice or suggestion from 
those at home, although two years before, when 
ordered to the Pacific, he had considered resign- 
ing from the service. Jesse Grant had no intima- 
tion of his son's action, until the final letter from 

1 See "The Truth About Grant" in The Army and Navy 
Journal, for June 6, 1908,— Vol. XLV, p. 1100. 



76 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

Davis was delivered at his home at Bethel, and he 
wrote a characteristic letter to Washington in the 
vain hope that the matter might be reopened. 1 But 



'In Hamlin Garland's "Ulysses S. Grant, His Life and 
Character," an abundauce of new biographical matter has been 
collected, through the industry of the author, and among other 
letters, the following : 

" Bethel, Claremont County, June 1, 1854. 
"Hon. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, 

"Dear Sir:— Your letter of the 7th instant enclosing 
acceptance of the resignation of my sou, Captain U. S. Grant, was 
received a few days ago through Thomas A. Ellyson. That was 
the first intimation I had of his intention to resign. 

"If it is consistent with your powers and the good of the 
servis I will be much gratified if you would reconsider and 
withdraw the acceptance of his resignation and grant him a six 
mouths' leave that he may come home and see his family. 

" 1 never wished him to leave the servis. I think after 
spending so much time to qualify himself for the army and 
spending so many years in the servis he will be poorly quali- 
fied for the pursuits of private life. 

" He has been eleven years an officer, was in all the battles 
of Generals Taylor and Scott except Buena Vista, never absent 
from his post during the Mexican War and has never had a 
leave of six mouths, would it then be asking too much for him 
to have such leave that he may come home and make arrange- 
ments for taking his family with him to his post. 

"I will remark that he has not seen his family for over two 
.years and has a son nearly two years old he has never seen. I 
suppose in his great anxiety to see his family he has been ordered 
to quit the servis. 

" Please write me and let me know the results of this request, 
and, 

" Respectfully, your obt. servt., 

"J. R. Grant." 

On the back of this letter appears the following endorse- 
ment : 

" Capt. Grant's tender of resignation assigns no reason for 
his wish to leave the service and the motives which influenced 
him to take the step are not known ; he merely desired that the 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 77 

the action was irrevocable, and his son was now to 
embark on a new career, in which the disappoint- 
ments and failures in material progress would be 
compensated only by the growth in character and 
will. 

Grant left Fort Humboldt with a strong liking 
for the West. Until the latter days of the Civil 
War, it was his hope some day to return to the 
Pacific coast with his family. But meanwhile, his 
problem was to earn a livelihood, and the first 
necessity was to find work. When he arrived at 
San Francisco, he was obliged to wait for transpor- 
tation for several weeks, and during this time he 
unfortunately trusted his small savings to a friend, 
who promised him a large rate of interest. When 
the time of payment drew near, the debtor de- 
camped, and Grant found himself almost penniless. 

It is probable that at this time he passed through 
the darkest hours of his life, when he realized the 
combination of circumstances which had made him 
fortune's plaything. Some of his army friends, 



resignation should take effect July 31, 1854, and it was accepted 
accordingly by the Secretary of War, June 2d, and the notifica- 
tion sent out to the army the same day. 

" Kespectfully submitted, 

" W. G. Freeman, 
" Acting AdjutanUGeneral. 
"June 27, 1854." 

Below this appears, in the handwriting of Jefferson Davis, 
the final entry : 

" Answer with endorsement. 

"J. D.» 



78 ULYSSES S GRANT 

however, came to his relief, and provided for his 
transportation and expenses to New York, and 
when he arrived at that city, again some of the 
officers, among whom was Captain Simon B. Buck- 
ner, afterward Confederate commander at Fort 
Donelson, raised a fund to take him to Bethel. 
There can be little doubt but that his home-coming 
was very different from that of six years before. 
Jesse Grant was keenly disappointed in his son, aud 
showed it in all that he said and did. " West Point 
spoiled one of my sons for business," he would say, 
aud he showed little disposition to be generous to 
one whom he regarded as a failure. In the develop- 
ment of character it is probable that this was most 
wholesome discipline for the young man ; it was 
necessary so that when the next opportunity came 
it should not be trifled with. Somehow the iron 
must be driven into his soul, yet Grant, while re- 
membering with gratitude the devotion and faith of 
his mother at this time, was always pained to recol- 
lect the lack of sympathy which he received from 
his father and brothers in this hour of dejection and 
discouragement. 

From Bethel he proceeded to St. Louis, and at 
White Haven he was once more reunited with his 
wife and family. Colonel Dent had a large planta- 
tion of about one thousand acres. In 1848, upon the 
marriage of his daughter, he had given her a tract 
of eighty acres as a wedding present. He now 
loaned Grant $1,000 as a basis for his future work, 
and with dauntless hearts the young couple started 



YEAKS OF UNFULFILLED PEOMISE 79 

out to earn a living. For the first winter they lived 
with Colonel Dent, and meanwhile Grant worked on 
the farm as an ordinary laborer. But the next year 
he went to the tract belonging to his wife, and with 
some assistance from kindly neighbors, he cut the 
logs and built a cabin of four rooms, which, in 
memory of the struggle, he called " Hard Scrabble." 
It was more ambitious than the ordinary cabin of the 
neighborhood, being cozy and homelike, and here 
the family lived comfortably for three years. Dur- 
ing this time Grant farmed, aided by three negro 
servants, two horses and a cow ; he cut and hauled 
cord-wood and timbering for the adjacent mines, 
and gradually worked his land with some success. 
Domestically, it was a happy period, especially for 
a man in whom the family affections had been starved 
during long years of absence, but there was little 
material advance. Grant could see no future in this 
kind of life, and as his family increased, 1 and ex- 
penses multiplied, he was anxious to be established 
permanently in some new line. Moreover, he suffered 
greatly from malaria, and after a prolonged attack 
it seemed necessary to abandon the farm-life for the 
city. 

In his "Memoirs" Grant summarized this por- 
tion of his career in few words : 

" In the late summer of 1854 1 rejoined my family, 

1 His children were as follows: 

1. Frederick Dent, born at St. Louis, 1850. 

2. Ulysses Simpson, Jr., born at Bethel, 1852. 

3. Nellie, born near St. Louis, 1855. 

4. Jesse Root, born near St. Louis, 1858. 



80 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

to find in it a son whom I had never seen, born while 
I was on the Isthmus of Panama. I was now to 
commence, at the age of thirty-two, a new struggle 
for our support. My wife had a farm near St. 
Louis, to which we went, but I had no means to 
stock it. A house had to be built also. I worked 
very hard, never losing a day because of bad 
weather, and accomplished the object in a moderate 
way. If nothing else could be done, I would load a 
cord of wood on a wagon and take it to the city for 
sale. I managed to keep along very well until 
1858, when I was attacked by fever and ague. I 
had suffered very severely and for a long time from 
this disease while a boy in Ohio. It lasted now 
over a year, and, while it did not keep me in the 
house, it did interfere greatly with the amount of 
work I was able to perform. In the fall of 1858 I 
sold out my stock, crops and farming utensils at 
auction, and gave up farming." 

When Grant returned to St. Louis, he bore the 
marks of sickness and toil. Work and worry had 
aged him greatly, and his youth was gone, but in 
its place he had obtained a self-mastery which, 
added to his inherited reserve and restraint, made 
him eventually a man of force and power. During 
the next two years, he worked in several lines with 
indifferent success, impressing all who knew him 
with his honesty and sincerity of purpose, but also 
suggesting an inaptitude for ordinary business life 
so strong that eventually it proved characteristic. 
Colonel Dent soon found an opening for his son-in- 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 81 

law in the real estate business, in partnership with 
Henry Boggs, also a family connection. The firm 
of " Boggs and Grant" rented desk-room in the 
offices of McClelland, Hilyer and Moody, attorneys, 
and bought and sold realty, collected loans and 
rents, etc. Some Eastern capital was secured by the 
senior partner, to be loaned on mortgage, at the 
higher rate of interest prevailing in the West. For 
a time the business prospered, but other firms en- 
tering into the same field divided the profits, and 
there was not a sufficient income to support two 
families, — so Boggs presently concluded that he 
could work alone to better advantage. 

There can be no question but that this decision of 
his partner was a great blow to Grant. He had 
worked hard and faithfully, but he was not a suc- 
cess at collecting rents from the poor, and he had no 
genius for real estate speculation. One of his friends 
who had promised to purchase a house from him 
afterward was obliged to cancel the agreement, and 
thus described Grant's dismay, — "His countenance 
was transformed to severe sadness. He could hardly 
utter a word, so intense was his disappointment." 
Writing to Jesse Grant, in August, 1859, he said, 
" I do not want to fly from one thing to another ; 
nor would I ; but I am compelled to make a living 
from the start, for which I am willing to give all 
my time and all my energy.", 

His next efforts were along wholly different lines. 
Jesse Grant urged him to try for a vacant professor- 
ship of mathematics at Washington University, but 



82 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

the sou recognized the folly of an application when 
as yet there was no achievement in scientific lines, 
nor publications to testify to scholarly fitness. He 
did apply, however, for the position of county en- 
gineer, and submitted a statement of his qualifica- 
tions from his classmate at West Point, Prof. J. J. 
Keynolds, and an endorsement signed by thirty-five 
representative citizens of the county. The appoint- 
ment was to be made by a board of five commis- 
sioners, and at this time a majority were Eepub- 
licans. Politics eventually governed the decision, 
and as Grant had voted for Buchanan, and was 
known as a Democrat, and as his father-in-law was 
a slaveholder and pro-southern in his sympathies, 
his claims were set aside in favor of C. E. Salomon. 
Later, Grant secured a position in the custom-house, 
but withiu a month the collector died, and he was 
again thrown out of employment. These distressing 
experiences, aided perhaps by a growing lack of 
congeniality in his relations with Colonel Dent, 
brought him to the conclusion that there was no 
future in St. Louis, and again he appealed to his fa- 
ther. 

There have been many biographical fables about 
Grant's life in St. Louis, and some of those who 
have been impressed by the success of his later life 
have felt it necessary to describe this period as a 
time of extreme poverty. Unquestionably, tested 
by contemporary standards, Grant was a business 
failure ; he had not succeeded in establishing him- 
self in any settled line of occupation, and hence his 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PEOMISE 83 

future was as yet uncertain ; lie had incurred debts, 
especially during bis last year, and tbe opportunity 
for their discharge was not at hand. It would be a 
mistake, however, to conclude from these facts that 
he lived either in want or destitution. He de- 
scribed the home to his father as follows: "We 
are now living in the lower part of the city, fully 
two miles from my office. The house is a com- 
fortable little one, just suited to my means. We 
have one spare room, and also a spare bed in the 
children's room, so that we can accommodate any 
of our friends that are likely to come to see us. I 
want two of the girls [his sisters] or all of them 
for that matter, to come and pay us a long visit 
soon." 

Even when in great financial necessity he could 
contribute a load of wood to a German neighbor, 
who had lost his all by fire. When the new church 
was to be built, he could help with a substantial 
donation. It was his lack of aggressiveness in the 
pursuit of money which caused his failure, and led 
to a low estimate of the man and his abilities. 
General Sherman once said, — " I recall an instance 
when I met Grant in St. Louis, in 1857, when he 
was a farmer in the county, and I, too, was out of 
the military service. The only impression left on 
my memory is that I then concluded that West 
Point and the regular army were not good schools 
for farmers, bankers, merchants and mechanics." 

It was not easy for the son who had thus failed 
to turn to his self-reliant and censorious father for 



84 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

aid. Jesse Grant was now a successful man. Six 
years later when he retired from active business he 
was worth over $100, 000, a large sum in those days, 
aud this was the result of his ability to recognize an 
opportunity, and his shrewdness in bargaining. 
His own success in business made him the more 
critical of a son who with far better training and a 
larger outlook could not imitate his example. For 
a time, Jesse Grant refused to help in his son's 
struggle, but in the spring of 1860, he made a sug- 
gestion that brought about a change both in em- 
ployment and residence. 

Jesse Grant now lived at Covington, Ky., where 
his tannery was located, but a branch of his ex- 
tensive business had been established in Galena, 111., 
and was conducted by the younger sons, Simpson 
and Orvil. These boys had succeeded well, but 
Simpson was failing in health, aud suffering from 
the disease which in the next year brought him to 
au untimely grave. This left an opening for 
Ulysses, and he was offered a place in the store at 
an annual salary of $600, with however an oppor- 
tunity for a share in the business. He gladly ac- 
cepted, and in April, 1860, he and his family em- 
barked their household effects on a river-boat, and 
bade farewell to St. Louis. 

Galena was at this time a healthy Western city 
of 6,000 or 7,000 inhabitants, situated on the river 
of that name about four miles above its junction 
with the Mississippi, and located in the heart of the 
lead district of Illinois. Jesse Grant conducted here 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 85 

a wholesale leather business, originally founded in 
1840 by E. A. Collins, with whom he had formed a 
partnership ; but in 1853 there was a dissolution, 
and Jesse purchased the business. Henceforth the 
title was wholly in him, and the management was 
intrusted to his sons. Writing from Covington in 
1868, the elder Grant says, — " After Ulysses's farm- 
ing and real estate experiments failed to be self- 
supporting, he came to me at this place for advice 
and assistance. I referred him to Simpson, my 
next oldest son, who had charge of my Galena 
business, and who was staying with me at that time 
on account of poor health. Simpson sent him to 
the Galena store to stay until something better 
should turn up in his favor, and told him he would 
be allowed a salary of eight hundred (originally six 
hundred) dollars per annum. . . . That amount 
would have supported his family then, but he owed 
debts at St. Louis, and did draw fifteen hundred 
dollars in the year, but he soon paid back the bal- 
ance after he went into the army. " 

The leather business had a capital of about 
$100,000, and its annual receipts were about the 
same amount. The house purchased domestic 
leather, and sold shoe-findings, saddlery, French 
calf, fancy linings and morocco. His brothers 
assigned to Ulysses clerical work, in which his 
aptitude for mathematics made him proficient, 
and some buying and selling, reserving for them- 
selves the more important bargaining. His per- 
sonal relations with Simpson were very cordial, — 



86 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

"A more honorable man never transacted busi- 
ness," was the tribute to him in the " Memoirs." 

During the next year Grant lived quietly and 
happily at Galena. His home was on a bluff two 
hundred feet above the river, and every day he 
climbed the wooden steps which led to this eleva- 
tion. With his wife, he attended the Methodist 
Church, and although not himself a member, he 
was as regular as many communicants. He en- 
joyed the life of the town, and as in St. Louis, he 
was afterward recollected chiefly for his stories of 
the Mexican War, his accounts of the West and 
sometimes his trenchant comments on a military 
problem. His army overcoat of blue, purchased 
on the Pacific coast in more prosperous days, be- 
came well known as the distinguishing mark of the 
ex-soldier. Once he traveled for ten days in Wis- 
consin and Iowa, purchasing hides for the busi- 
ness. And gradually the conviction developed in 
his mind that here was his life-work, not indeed in 
the tanning, from which his boyish heart had 
turned, but in the kindred business, in association 
with his own family. Writing to a friend, in 
December, I860, he said, — "In my new employ- 
ment I have become pretty conversant, and am 
much pleased with it. I hope to be a partner 
pretty soon." 

Meanwhile, chance and circumstance were again 
to take their hand in Grant's career. The problem 
of slavery had brought the question of secession 
into every one's mind and the future of the Union 



YEAES OF UNFULFILLED PROMISE 87 

was the great topic. While in St. Louis, Grant's 
affiliations were naturally with the slave owners, 
especially as represented by his wife's family. In 
Galena, although the town was Democratic, he 
found a strong anti-slavery sentiment. In journey- 
ing around the northwest, he encountered the 
vigorous pioneer loyalty to the flag and devotion to 
freedom which eventually were to be welded into a 
mighty and efficient military force. All of these 
influences reacted upon Grant's mind, gave him an 
insight into the turmoil of the nation, and so helped 
to prepare him for the next stage of his career. 

The great crisis was now fast approaching, — when 
the power and indomitable will of the quiet leather- 
salesman would make him the nation's hero ! 



CHAPTER V 

THE NATIONAL CRISIS 

During the seven years which followed Grant's 
retirement from the army, a great change had come 
over the spirit of our nation, and now the crisis of 
its history was imminent. 

The census of 1860 made manifest many signs of 
material progress. There was a total population of 
31,443,321, of which 5,407,220 whites, 127,760 free 
negroes, and 3,521,120 slaves owned by approxi- 
mately 350,000 slaveholders, were in the eleven 
states of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, North 
Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, which afterward 
formed the Southern Confederacy. But while the 
increase in national prosperity during the previous 
decade had been great, it would be futile to deny 
that there had developed a line of cleavage in 
political and social ideas which separated the Union 
into two clearly defined political entities. 

The South was in a large measure agricultural, 
and several of its states were devoted to the raising 
of cotton and rice, in which negro labor was al- 
most, exclusively used. Those districts of the South 
which were not directly interested in cotton pro- 



THE NATIONAL CBISIS 89 

duced slaves who were sold to the great plantations, 
as the demand for slave labor increased. " Under 
the influence of climate, soil and a system of forced 
African labor, the Southern states irresistibly 
reverted to the patriarchal conditions, becoming 
more and more agricultural ; and, as is always the 
case with agricultural races and patriarchal com- 
munities, they cling ever more closely to their tradi- 
tions and local institutions." ' As a result, there 
was a personal loyalty to the state as the sovereign, 
and a devotion to the local units of government 
which permeated every class of society. Only on 
this principle can the heroic struggle of the South 
in the defense of its social institutions be explained, 
when it is recollected that less than one out of every 
sixteen whites in the seceding states was a slave- 
holder. 

But in the North there had been a great change 
since the revolutionary days in the development of 
a national consciousness. The railroad, the public 
school, the newspaper, the growth of manufactures 
which demanded more than a local market, the in- 
fluence of immigrants from European countries in 
whom the race-tradition accented the idea of 
nationality, an expansion of commerce which re- 
quired the protection of a national flag, a continuous 
western migration from the older communities to 
the new, — all of these forces, and many others, had 
finally welded together a sentiment which has been 

Charles Francis Adams in "Studies, Military and Diplo- 
matic," " The Ethics of Secession," p. 22. 



90 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

called a " National Will," and this desire for Union 
found its expression in a fine loyalty to the federal 
government as its chief exponent. These two con- 
ceptions of political life developed in the country, 
side by side, in the thirty years preceding the Civil 
War, and the striking and significant fact upon 
which, a half-century later, the stress is being laid, 
is that in the main the conception of the South was 
the original American idea, and that the change 
came in the North, where the development from an 
agricultural to a manufacturing and commercial 
status had brought about a consequent alteration in 
the political ideas of the people, as their vision en- 
larged from the provincial and local, until they per- 
ceived not only the glory but also the absolute 
necessity of the national idea. 

The fundamental difference between the two 
branches of the American people was, in theory, a 
question of sovereignty, — was the supreme unit of 
government to be found in the state or the nation ? 
But the dispute waged with even greater intensity 
and bitterness over a practical question, — the posi- 
tion of slavery under the law. In the South, the 
slave was property, to be protected under the law, 
and to be taken freely into every part of the national 
domain, without let or hindrance. But in the 
North, a strong moral conscience had developed 
which, in harmony with the prevailing tone of 
European civilization, denounced all property of 
man in man as morally wrong. The extremists 
among the Abolitionists saw nothing commendable 



THE NATIONAL CKISIS 91 

in the South or its institutions and even favored the 
disruption of the Union as a protest against partner- 
ship in crime. There had been a tremendous devel- 
opment of public sentiment in the North during the 
Kansas-Nebraska struggle and while the men of 
moderate views were far removed from the Aboli- 
tionists, yet the election of 1800 showed that an 
overwhelming majority in the North was strongly 
opposed to any extension of the slave domain, 
especially in the territories of the Union. 

Between these two attitudes, there might have 
been found some middle course. Certainly, the na- 
tional idea and the opposition to slavery were grow- 
ing so much more rapidly than the opposing con- 
victions, that if civil strife could have been averted 
for one generation, it is easy to conceive that a 
proposition for gradual emancipation with compen- 
sation to slaveholders might have been worked out. 
Moreover, even a brief breatliing-space would 
have given opportunity for iinpressiug upon the 
Southern mind the economic wastefulness of slavery 
as a method of industrial organization, and this ar- 
gument should have been just as convincing first as 
last — after four years of warfare. Unfortunately 
for the peaceful solution of the problem, both 
branches of the American people were dominated 
by extremists, and they would be content only with 
a complete and immediate triumph for their views. 
There were few who could ascend to the breadth of 
vision and toleration which characterized Lincoln, 
when he said, in 1854, — " They (the South) are just 



92 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

what we would be in their situation. If slavery 
did not exist among them, they would not introduce 
it. If it did now exist among us, we should not 
instantly give it up. I surely will not blame them 
for doing what I should not know how to do my- 
self." This was a wise message to a contending 
world, in which one group menacingly declared that 
slavery was ordained of God, while the other replied 
with equal insistence that it was the special creation 
of the Devil. 

The election of Lincoln, while a distinct triumph 
for the opponents of slavery, presented an oppor- 
tunity for moderate counsels, which the South should 
have recognized. Unfortunately, public sentiment 
among the slaveholders was even more excitable 
than in the North, and there was a most complete 
misconception of the capacity and attitude of their 
opponents, based upon ignorance and provincialism. 
" The Southern mind was influenced and misguided 
by a class of public men, politicians, not statesmen, 
newspaper editors, and preachers, who possessed far 
more ambition and zeal than wisdom and knowledge. 
By their power over the passions and prejudices of 
the multitude, they precipitated the Southern people 
into reassumption of their independence as states, 
more as an escape from anticipated wrongs than from 
actual grievance." l 

As a result of this leadership, the South believed 
that their opponents would not fight, and that the 
basis of political society in the North was so selfish 
1 " Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens," p. 326. 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 93 

and materialistic that its men were incapable of 
heroic self-sacrifice for an ideal. In almost every 
village, it was proclaimed that " one Southerner 
could whip a half-dozen Yankees and not half try," 
and that " Cotton was King," so that the civilized 
world could not exist without the products of the 
South, and would join forces in overwhelming resist- 
ance to any power which would attempt to inter- 
fere with its trade. 

It was this vainglorious attitude which forced the 
fighting. The abstract question of States' Eights 
might have been committed eventually to the field 
of legal disputation. It is conceivable that the pres- 
sure of economic necessity might have eventually 
led to a complete change in the status of the slave ; 
but when the two large sections of the nation, both 
equally brave and sensitively proud, regarded each 
other with mutual bitterness and contempt, the ap- 
peal to arms could not long be averted. The South 
was taught to regard the election of Lincoln as an 
insult to Southern pride and a menace to Southern 
institutions, and their leaders were not willing to 
wait for the development of his real policy. Will- 
iam T. Sherman had lived in the South ; from his 
school in Louisiana he witnessed the preparations 
for secession and war, and when his loyalty to the 
Union required that he should resign his post, he 
wrote to his brother : " I do regret this political im- 
broglio. I do think it was brought about by poli- 
ticians." 

But if neither side was willing to listen to reason, 



94 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

neither yielded to the other in profound self-confi- 
dence. In April, 1861, at the flag-raising of the 
Stars and Bars in Montgomery, Ala., the Confed- 
erate Secretary of War pledged himself to the ex- 
cited crowd to raise the same flag over Faneuil Hall 
in Boston. When Davis dispatched an officer to 
England to bay arms for the war, he was instructed 
to purchase but 10,000 Enfield rifles ! In the North, 
after the firing ou Sumter, the cry of "On to Bich- 
mond " was equally persistent, and led to the early 
disaster at Bull Bun. There were few, on either 
side, who really comprehended all aspects of the 
problem which so nearly wrecked the nation, and 
there were fewer still who understood what war 
meant. 

During the excitement of these troublous times 
Grant lived quietly at Galena. His residence in 
Illinois was too recent to qualify him to vote at the 
election, and consequently he was not active in the 
presidential campaign. If he had been qualified, 
there can be little doubt but that he would have 
voted for Douglas, on the same grounds as had de- 
termined his vote for Buchanan four years before. 
As between Breckinridge and Lincoln, he favored 
the latter, but the middle course appealed to him as 
postponing the crisis, until the excited passions of 
both sides had cooled. 

But when the news of the firing on Sumter came 
to Galena, it subordinated politics to patriotism, 
and Grant at once avowed his sympathies with the 
flag under which he had served for fifteen years. 



THE NATIONAL CEISIS 95 

Unlike many of his companions in the army, there 
was for him no question of divided patriotism be- 
cause of state allegiance. There is a tradition, 
founded on the gossip of a slave, that his father-in- 
law endeavored to win him for the South, promis- 
ing a commission as brigadier-general. But what- 
ever truth there may be in this rumor, it is certain 
that there was not the slightest hesitation on 
Grant's part as to his duty. " We are now in the 
midst of trying times when every one must be for or 
against his country, and show his colors, too, by his 
every act," he wrote to his father, ten days after the 
firing on Sumter. " Having been educated for 
such an emergency, at the expense of the Govern- 
ment, I feel that it has upon me superior claims, 
such claims as no ordinary motives of self-interest 
can surmount. . . . Whatever may have been 
my political opinions before, I have but one senti- 
ment now. That is, we have a Government, and 
laws, and a flag, and they must all be sustained." 
In his immediate family, this was the unanimous 
sentiment, although some of his Southern cousins at 
once enlisted in the Confederate Army, and Jesse \S 
Grant's sister, Eachel, who had lived for eight 
years in Virginia and was a slave owner, wrote to 
one of her nieces, "If you are with the accursed 
Lincolnites, the ties of consanguinity shall be for- 
ever severed." 

The uprising of the North in defense of the 
Union is one of the most inspiring facts of the 
nation's history. At Galena, as in practically every 



96 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

other Northern community, a town meeting was as- 
sembled at the court-house to ratify Lincoln's call 
for volunteers. The local leaders were two men, 
whose intimate association with Grant was of the 
greatest service to him, and has made their names 
memorable, — Elihu B. Washburne and John A. 
Rawlins. Washburne had been the congressman 
for the district since 1852. In the organization of 
the Republican party he had played a conspicuous 
part, and he was most zealous that the people 
whom he represented should be urgent in defense of 
the Union. Rawlins was then in his thirty-first 
year ; he had been a farmer and charcoal-burner ; 
through much privation he had worked his way 
into the legal profession, and by signal ability had 
succeeded. In the previous year he had been a 
candidate for presidential elector on the Douglas 
ticket, and now with his chief was foremost in 
pledging loyalty to the Union. At the first town 
meeting, the mayor, who had presided, had in- 
dicated his preference for a temporizing policy, and 
consequently, when the second was called, a few 
days later, to secure enlistments, some one nominated 
Captain Grant as chairman. This was Grant's first 
public appearance as an actor in the great struggle 
which was to give him his opportunity. Upon 
taking the chair, he spoke a few words about the 
practical duties of the soldier's life and pledged his 
own support. 

Within a few days enough volunteers had been 
secured for a company, and it was proposed to elect 



THE NATIONAL CEISIS 97 

Grant, who was probably the only West Pointer in the 
town, to the captaincy. He declined, however, pos- 
sibly with the belief that he was fitted by his train- 
ing- for a larger commaud, and A. L. Chetlain, after- 
ward brigadier-general, was elected. In the or- 
ganization of the conrpany, Grant showed the eager 
volunteers what was necessary, and he assumed 
charge of their first drilling. With Rawlins and 
others he went into neighboring towns and hamlets, 
urging everywhere a prompt response to the Presi- 
dent's call. When the company was completed, one 
week after the second town meeting, they held a 
farewell parade, and then took the train for Spring- 
field, whither Grant, without any official connec- 
tion, accompanied them. 

It is almost impossible to conceive of the confus- 
ion and administrative chaos of the early months of 
the war. Few knew what ought to be done, and 
none had any experience in the doing. Soldiers 
must be mustered into service, drilled in their 
duties, equipped with arms and assigned to their 
stations. The commissary department must be 
organized, expenditures must be authorized, and 
payments made. All of these things were now to be 
attempted by a government which was on a peace 
basis and in which the authority was divided be- 
tween state and nation. When Grant reached 
Springfield, he tendered his services to the Governor, 
Hon. Richard Yates, who, with no experience in 
such matters, was endeavoring to organize a mob of 
eager volunteers into an army. Although Wash- 



98 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

burne had given Grant a letter of introduction 
to Yates, it was several days before any work 
was given him. Five years afterward, Yates once 
referred to their first interview, — " He was plain, 
very plain, but something beside his plain, 
straightforward modesty and earnestness induced 
me to assign him a desk in the executive 
office." In the "Memoirs" Grant declared that 
he was about to return to Galena when Yates met 
him by chance and offered him a post in the 
Adjutant-General's office. It is highly probable, 
however, that this offer was the result of the pres- 
sure which Washburne had exerted on behalf of his 
protege. 

The new work was neither dignified nor remuner- 
ative. The printing-office could not manufacture 
the musteriug blanks as rapidly as they were needed, 
and so Grant was giveu a desk in the Adjutant's 
office, where he ruled blanks from plain paper for 
two dollars a day ! After several days at this task, 
disgusted with work that any schoolboy could have 
done, and unable to afford idleness, he was on the 
point of returning to Galena. But fortunately the 
legislature authorized eleven additional regiments, 
and Grant was appointed mustering officer. "I 
should have offered myself for the colonelcy of one 
of the regiments," he wrote to his father on May 2d, 
" but I find all of those places are wanted by politi- 
cians who are up to log-rolling, and I do not care to 
be under such persons." His new duties took him 
to various parts of the state, where men were enlist- 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 99 

iug. While waiting for a regiment to form at Belle- 
ville, in the southern part of the state, Grant crossed 
over to St. Louis, and there witnessed the energetic 
movements of Francis P. Blair, Jr., and Captain 
Nathaniel Lyon in disarming the secessionists at 
Camp Jackson. At this time, Captain John Pope 
was stationed at Springfield as the mustering-officer 
for the regular army, and Grant, upon renewing an 
acquaintance which had begun at West Point, was 
advised by him to apply for service in the regular 
army. It was quite evident that in the hurly-burly 
of organization others were winning recognition 
more quickly than Grant. While he had brief 
command of Camp Yates, and had had a temporary 
camp named after himself, and was becoming known 
as a master of the details of the business of military 
administration, yet he had little self-assertion, and 
no parade or presence, and as a consequence he was 
being passed by men of greater assurance and influ- 
ence. Moreover, at this time Grant shared the be- 
lief of most others that the war would not last longer 
than a brief campaign, and he was probably reluc- 
tant to give up a business position which had been 
secured with some difficulty for another experiment 
in the army. But his experience at Springfield 
seems to have revived in him the old love for army 
life, and during the next month he strove earnestly 
to return to the service. 

After the new regiments had been mustered in, 
Grant's work for the state was done, so he returned 
to Galena, to await what fortune might bring. On 



100 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

May 24, 1861, he wrote to the War Department, 1 
offering his services, and suggesting that he was 
competent to command a regiment, — a conclusion 
which he had reached after observing the character 
of the training of the men who had received appoint- 
ments of this grade. His letter was apparently 
mislaid in the mass of similar correspondence at 
Washington, and it was not discovered until long 
after the writer had secured national recognition. 
Grant waited for an answer, and as none was re- 
ceived, he became impatient. "I have felt all the 
time as if a duty were being neglected that was 
paramount to any other duty I ever owed. " Eventu- 
ally, he went South to Covington, Ky., to see his 

1 Galena, III., 

May 24th, 1861. 

Col. L. Thomas, 

Adgt. Gen. U. S. A., 

Washington, D. C. 

SIR : . „ 

Having served for fifteen years in the regular army, 
including four years at West Point, and feeling it the duty of 
every one who 'has been educated at the Government expense 
to offer their service for the support of that Government, I have 
the honor, very respectfully, to tender my services until the 
close of the War, in such capacity as may be offered. I would 
say, in view of my present age and length of service, I feel my- 
self competent to' command a Regiment if the President, in his 
judgment, should see fit to intrust one to me. 

Since the first call of the President. I have been serving on 
the Staff of the Governor of this State, rendering such aid as I 
could in the organization of our State Militia, and am still en- 
gaged in that capacity. A letter addressed to me at Springfield, 
111., will reach me. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your Obt. Svt. 

U. S. Grant. 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 101 

parents, and after a few days crossed over to Cincin- 
nati, in the hope of securing a position on the staff of 
General George B. McClellan, who was then organiz- 
ing the Western army, and was generally regarded as 
the coming man. He found McClellan' s headquarters 
full of bustle and life, and hoped for a time that 
he might here receive appointment as a major or 
lieutenant-colonel, but although he made two visits, 
McClellan was too busy to receive one, whom if he 
recalled at all, he probably remembered without 
favor. 1 This failure made Grant despondent, as it 
seemed to indicate that a return to active service 
would not be easy. At this time, discouraged to an 
unusual degree, he even suggested to a friend that 
he might bake bread for the soldiers, as he had done 
while quartermaster in Mexico. 

Meanwhile, his opportunity had come. Among 
the regiments which had been accepted by Yates 
was one organized by the young men from Cham- 
paign and the adjacent communities, which had 
been mustered into service by Grant at Mattoou. 
Its first colonel had proven unfit for the post, and 
the regiment had become disorderly and insub- 
ordinate. The officers were called into conference 
with the Governor, and suggested a change in com- 
mander. Recalling the trained soldier, who had 
presided over the organization of the regiment, 
Grant's name was mentioned, and the Governor 
decided to act on the suggestion. So, while Grant 

1 In " McClellan's Own Story," p. 47, he states that he was 
absent from Cincinnati at this time. 



102 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

was fretting in Cincinnati, he received a telegraphic 
appointment as colonel of the Seventh District 
Regiment, or the Twenty -first Illinois, as it was 
called later. He accepted with alacrity, and has- 
tened to Springfield to this welcome duty. 

When the new colonel went out to Camp Yates 
to assume command, he was accompanied by two 
congressmen, John A. McClernand and John A. 
Logan, both Douglas Democrats and loyal to the 
Union. In the usual custom of the time, the regi- 
ment was assembled, and the congressmen delivered 
highly patriotic speeches. Then the new colonel 
was called for, and as he arose on the platform, — 
11 dressed in citizeu's clothes, an old coat worn out at 
the elbows and a badly damaged hat," there was 
some derision at his appearance. Grant's speech 
was but a sentence, — " Men, go to your quarters ! " 
And while some contrasted his style and manner 
with the grandiloquent appearance of his prede- 
cessor, yet there were many who could not but feel 
that now the holiday was over, and the regiment 
was in the hands of one who knew his trade. 

During the first few days Grant had no horse 
and no uniform, and so left to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Alexander the duty of presiding at dress-parade. 
At the first drills he was obliged to point out the 
line with a stick instead of a sword ! But his 
father's partner, A. A. Collins, loaned him several 
hundred dollars, with which he purchased the 
necessary equipment, and thenceforth, until the 
closing days of his life, he was rid of the pressure 



THE NATIONAL CRISIS 103 

of financial necessity. His increasing income dur- 
ing the army service enabled him to discharge his 
debts with scrupulous honor, and to provide com- 
fortably for his family. 

His first great problem was to reduce his regi- 
ment to a proper state of discipline, and this was 
undertaken with a degree of thoroughness that 
showed his training. When a company assembled 
late for roll-call, it spent the day without rations. 
When men straggled out of the camp after liquor, 
they were tied to trees for a period of reflection. 
When one cursed his commander, he was gagged. 
It needed but a few such salutary lessons. The 
average volunteer of the Civil War was a higher 
type of manhood than has ever served in any 
similar struggle, and the response of these farmers' 
sons to a discipline which was effective, even if 
rigid, was instant. 

Early in July the regiment was ordered to 
Quincy, 111., and to the amazement of all, Grant 
refused railroad transportation, preferring to march 
through the state, soldier-fashion. This experience 
completed his conquest of his men, as he taught 
them how to camp and to mess, and so prepared 
them in the details of a soldier's every-day life, so 
that the chaplain, Rev. James L. Crane, could say, 
— " In less than ten days after Grant took com- 
mand, all this complicated confusion was brought 
to order and subordination by his quiet unostenta- 
tious vigor and vigilance. Every man felt that he 
had a colonel that must be obeyed and respected ; 



104 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

aud hence they all soon became strongly attached 
to him, with the exception of a few who disliked 
any restraints upon their waywardness." So ef- 
fective was this training that at the Illinois River, 
when the regiment was sleeping near midnight, 
Grant had them aroused, tents struck, baggage 
collected and all at the water's edge within forty 
minutes, — a movement which brought from their 
commander the comment that they had displayed 
the celerity and promptness of veterans. 

The first real service of the regiment was in 
Missouri, which from its situation and population 
was one of the most important of the border states. 
Here, the Governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, was in 
sympathy with secession, but the friends of the 
Union, organized by Frauds P. Blair, Jr., whose 
brother was in Lincoln's Cabinet, aud a small 
group of regulars, commanded by Captain Lyon, 
had checked his plans. In the summer of 1861, 
while the Union Army was organizing, the state 
was overrun with bauds of Southern sympathizers, 
who maiutaiued a species of guerilla warfare on 
their opponents, degenerating eventually into neigh- 
borhood feuds and bushwhacking. On July 1, 
1861, Lincoln appointed John C. Fremont a major- 
general in the regular army, and two days later he 
was placed in charge of the Western Department, 
with headquarters at St. Louis. Fremont reached 
his command on July 25th, haviug spent three 
weeks in the East in a vain effort to secure arms 
and equipment. During this period the Twenty- 



THE NATIONAL CEISIS 105 

first Illinois was ordered by steamer to Ironton, 
which was the Union headquarters in southeastern 
Missouri. But the boat grounded on a sand-bar, 
and hearing that some Illinois forces had been 
surrounded by Confederates in northwestern Mis- 
souri, Grant took his regiment by train from the 
Illinois River to Quincy, then crossed the Missis- 
sippi, and hastened to Palmyra, where he was first 
stationed as a guard to workmen who were rebuild- 
ing a bridge over Salt River. General Pope, recently 
musteriug-officer at Springfield, was in command in 
northern Missouri, and was endeavoring to suppress 
the guerilla warfare. To this end, Grant was or- 
dered to attack Colonel William Harris, who had a 
force of about 1,200 men at Florida. With great 
trepidation, Grant marched his regiment twenty- 
five miles through a deserted country, to find that 
Harris had retreated several days before. "It oc- 
curred to me at once that Harris had been as much 
afraid of me as I had been of him. This was a view 
of the question I had never taken before ; but it 
was one I never forgot afterward. From that 
event, to the close of the war, I never experienced 
trepidation upon confronting an enemy, though I 
always felt more or less anxiety. I never forgot 
that he had so much reason to fear my forces as I 
had his. The lesson was valuable." 

After this adventure, Grant was stationed at 
Mexico for a few weeks, and while there learned 
from a newspaper that Lincoln had commissioned 
him as a Brigadier-General of Volunteers. In rec- 



106 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

ognition of the loyalty of tlie state, the Illinois 
congressmen had been asked to suggest several can- 
didates to the President for brigadiers' commissions, 
and on Washburne's nomination, Grant's name was 
first on the list. 

In August, Grant was ordered to Ironton, seventy 
miles south of St. Louis, and the termiuus of a rail- 
road, to defend the post from a threatened attack by 
Hardee, who had an unorganized army of Con- 
federates numbering about 5,000 in the vicinity. 
Here he relieved B. Gratz Brown, afterward candi- 
date for the vice-presidency on the Greeley ticket. 
With a force of about 3,000, Grant organized the 
defense so as to make Ironton secure, and then 
planned an offensive operation against Hardee, who 
was twenty-five miles to the south. Some of his 
columns had already started on this expedition 
when General B. M. Prentiss arrived with orders to 
supersede Grant. Prentiss had been appointed a 
brigadier at the same time as Grant, but the latter 
was his senior in the regular army, and hence should 
have retained the command. Fremont had not 
been informed as to this seniority, and so Grant 
with a protest yielded to Prentiss, and returned to 
St. Louis. Here he spent a day trying to penetrate 
the pomp with which Fremont had surrounded him- 
self, and eventually, upon explaining the situation, 
he received the command at Jefferson City, in the 
centre of the state, which was then being threatened 
by General Sterling Price. 

Jefferson City was the capital of Missouri, and 



THE NATIONAL CBISIS 107 

hence was a post of considerable importance. Grant 
found it filled with soldiers, whose patriotism but 
intensified the lack of organization. Eecruits were 
being accepted for different periods of service, and 
yet were placed in the same regiments. The city was 
filled with refugees, driven in by Confederate par- 
tisans. First organizing his men, Grant theu sent 
detachments to various posts twenty miles away, 
where there was greater opportunity for subsistence. 
He was about to organize an offensive movement, 
when he was again relieved by Colonel Jefferson C. 
Davis, and ordered to St. Louis, to receive special 
instructions. These placed him in command of the 
district of southeast Missouri, embracing also 
southern Illinois and western Kentucky, and he at 
once proceeded to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi, 
between Cairo and St. Louis, to take personal 
charge of an expedition designed to crush Colonel 
Jeff. Thompson, a Confederate partisan who had a 
considerable force in the neighborhood. 

The plan of attack involved several separate 
columns which were to concentrate upon Thompson 
from Ironton, Cairo and Cape Girardeau. Prentiss 
was still in command at Ironton, and when he found 
that he was to serve under Grant, whom he regarded 
as his junior, he abandoned his command and 
hastened to St. Louis to complain. This broke up the 
attack, and Thompson escaped. Grant was obliged 
to prefer charges against Prentiss, who on this oc- 
casion made a serious mistake, which for a time 
cost him an active command. On September 4, 



108 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

1861, Grant arrived at Cairo, and assumed entire 
charge of his district. 

During this first summer of the war, Grant had 
advanced rapidly in the esteem of his superiors and 
in his capacity for service. His frequent transfers 
were due, not to any demerit of his own, but to a 
growing conviction that here was the man for an 
emergency. From Cape Girardeau he wrote to his 
father, " I was sent to Irontou when the place was 
weak and threatened with a superior force, and as 
soon as it was rendered secure, I was ordered to 
Jefferson City, another poiut threatened. I was left 
there but a week when orders were sent ordering me to 
this point, putting me in command of all the forces 
in southeastern Missouri, south Illinois, and every- 
thing that can operate here. All I fear is that too 
much may be expected of me." Moreover, his 
training as quartermaster had been of great help in 
organizing and equipping the scattered forces under 
his command, and he had already commenced to 
display his strong characteristic of doing something 
with what was provided, instead of vociferously de- 
manding more, even to the point of the impossible. 

With this preliminary experience he was now 
transferred to one of the most important fields in the 
West. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 

It is impossible properly to appreciate the diffi- 
culties of the North in prosecuting the war for the 
Uuion without a due recognition of the enormous 
extent of the theatre of operations. The eleven 
states which had formally seceded covered an area 
of 777,665 square miles, and within this imperial 
domain the authority of the Federal Government, 
except in small communities such as West Virginia 
and East Tennessee, had practically ceased to exist. 
Moreover, there was an active sympathy with seces- 
sion in three border states, Maryland, Kentucky 
and Missouri, embracing an area of 122,025 square 
miles, which could only be repressed by armed 
forces. When it is realized that the area of the 
Confederacy exceeded the combined areas of France, 
Italy and the German and Austro-Hungarian 
empires, and that the area of the three border states 
was but a trifle less than that of Great Britain and 
Ireland, and that throughout this vast territory 
there must be an actual conquest of an intelligent, 
devoted and self-sacrificing people, the extent of the 
problem may be realized. 

While in the East the main task was the capture 



110 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

of Richmond and the destruction of the Army of 
Virginia, in the West the early plans of campaign 
centered naturally around the Mississippi Valley. 
With less than thirty thousand miles of railroad in 
the entire country, of which by far the greater por- 
tion was in the North, the importance of navigable 
rivers to trade and commerce cannot be over- 
estimated. With its branches, the Mississippi 
River drained an area of about one million and a 
quarter square miles. Its leading tributaries are 
the Ohio and the Missouri, the first of which 
branches to the east, eleven hundred miles above 
the mouth of the great river, and the Missouri, 
really the parent stream under another name, 
empties into the Mississippi at St. Louis, one hun- 
dred and fifty miles above the mouth of the Ohio. 

The control of the great valley of the Mississippi 
was indispensable to a successful prosecution of the 
war. Especially was it desired in the Northwest, 
whose natural outlet for trade was blocked by the 
Confederate strongholds in the South. So popular 
was this phase of the struggle that regiments from 
the Northwest had iuscribed on their banners, " The 
rebels have closed the Mississippi. We must cut 
our way to the Gulf with our swords." Opposed to 
this ardent and traditional feeling in the Northwest 
was the clear view of the Southern leaders, who 
recognized that the loss of the valley would cut the 
Confederacy in twaiu, more than two-fifths of its 
area being west of the river. Moreover, the states 
of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas supplied the Con- 



THE FIEST BATTLES— FOET DONELSON 111 

federacy with most of its sugar, beef and grain, and 
at least 100,000 recruits. As soon as the war bad 
commenced, therefore, fortifications were main- 
tained at New Orleans, Port Hudson, Vicksburg, 
Memphis, Fort Pillow, New Madrid and Island 
No. 10. 

In the autumn of 1861 the state of Kentucky in- 
tervened between the armed forces of the North aud 
South. While the Governor, Magoffin, had become 
an ardent secessionist, yet the legislature, and a 
large majority of the people, inspired by their 
memories of the teachings of Clay, were strongly 
for the Union. At first the legislature proclaimed 
neutrality, but with armies on the immediate north 
and south, this status was obviously impossible. 
On September 4, 1861, General Leonidas Polk, who 
commanded the Confederate army in western Ten- 
nessee, invaded Kentucky and seized Columbus, 
where a commanding bluff gave the control of the 
Mississippi Eiver. Polk was a nephew of the Pres- 
ident under whom the war with Mexico had been 
waged. He had been graduated from West Point, 
and had served in the army for a brief time. He 
then took orders in the Episcopal ministry, and at 
the outbreak of the Civil War was Bishop of Louis- 
iana. When the Legislature of Kentucky learned 
of the invasion of " the fighting Bishop," there was 
a strong protest against so patent a violation of 
States' Eights, with the result that the Union senti- 
ment in the state was soon so pronounced as to settle 
finally its attitude. 



112 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Upon the same day that Polk raised the Con- 
federate flag at Columbus, Grant arrived at Cairo, 
and assumed command of his new district. The 
problem before him was formidable, and the means 
were scanty. Cairo was a small town of less than 
3,000 inhabitants, located on the Illinois shore at 
the mouth of the Ohio River. Its principal business 
was shipping and transportation, and it was the 
natural centre for the trade down the Mississippi. 
On account of its strategic position, it had early 
been fortified, and had contained a garrison under 
Colonel Richard Oglesby. WheD Grant reported 
he was in citizen's dress, for his brigadier's uniform 
had not yet arrived from New York, and the first 
introduction of the Colonel to his new chief came 
when the latter entered the headquarters, and taking 
pen and paper, drafted an order assuming command. 
Scattered throughout the district there were about 
20,000 soldiers, and Grant's first care was to see that 
they were properly organized for operation. Cairo 
was filled with volunteer officers, impressive in their 
parade and ornate in uniform, and there was some 
difficulty in reducing them to proper discipline. 

Little time was given for plans or deliberation. 
The next day a Union scout brought word that an 
expedition had left Columbus to seize Paducah, a 
town of 5,000 inhabitants, located where the Ten- 
nessee River empties into the Ohio, and hence where 
a blockade of the trade of both rivers could be 
maintained. Realizing the importance of the post, 
Grant determined to anticipate Polk, and sent a hasty 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 113 

telegram to Fremont that be would start that night 
for Paducah, unless ordered to the contrary. The 
Teuuessee and Cumberland Rivers are the main 
branches of the Ohio in western Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. During the last eighty miles of their course 
they are almost parallel, and they empty into the 
Ohio River at Paducah and Sinithland, within 
twenty miles of each other. The control of the 
mouths of these two rivers would go far toward the 
mastery of the basins, and Grant won the race. 
Embarking two regiments and a battery on the 
evening of September 5th, he steamed hastily up- 
stream forty-five miles and landed at Paducah, while 
the Confederates were still ten miles away. The 
houses of Southern sympathizers were decorated 
with bunting aud the flags of their choice, but the 
nature of the reception was altered. Grant's Proc- 
lamation ' to the citizens of Paducah was a model 

1 PROCLAMATION 
TO THE CITIZENS OF PADUCAH ! 

I have come among you, not as an enemy, but as your friend 
and fellow-citizen, not to injure or annoy you, but to respect the 
rights, and to defend and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. 
An enemy, in rebellion against our common government, has 
taken possession of, and planted its guns upon the soil of Ken- 
tucky and fired upon our flag. Hickman and Columbus are in 
his hands. He is moving upon your city. I am here to defend 
you against this enemy and to assert and maintain the authority 
and sovereignty of your government and mine. I have nothing 
to do with opinions. I shall deal only with armed rebellion 
and its aiders and abettors. You can pursue your usual avoca- 
tions without fear or hindrance. The strong arm of the Gov- 
ernment is here to protect its friends, and to punish only its 
enemies. Whenever it is mauifest that you are able to defend 



114 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

statement of its kind, which by its dignity of ex- 
pression won the admiration of President Lincoln. 

After reinforcing Paducah so that it was no 
longer in danger, and sending a detachment to 
Smithland, Grant returned to Cairo, leaving Colonel 
Chas. F. Smith, former Commandant at West Point, 
in charge of this important post. The next two 
months were spent in organization and drill, in for- 
tifying important locations, and in reconnaissances 
against the enemy. It was not an easy time. ' ' It 
is a rare thing that I get to bed before two or three 
o'clock in the morning," he wrote from Cairo to his 
sister, "and am usually wakened in the morning 
before getting awake in a normal way." Gradually, 
however, system developed out of chaos ; a staff 
was organized, of which the Galena lawyer, Raw- 
lins, was the most useful member, and the army was 
put in readiness for offensive operations. 

In October, Fremont led forth from St. Louis a 
well-equipped army of 38,000 to attack General 
Price, who had remained in the state since his vic- 
tory at Wilson's Creek. Price retreated before this 
overwhelming force, however, and eventually, on 
November 2d, before a battle had been fought, Fre- 
mont was superseded by Hunter. As a part of this 
campaign, Grant fought his first battle at a hamlet 

yourselves, to maintain the authority of your government and 
protect the rights of all its loyal citizens, I ahall withdraw the 
forces under my command from your city. 

U. S. Grant, 
Brig. Gen. U. S. A., Commanding. 
Paducah, Sept. 6th, 1861. 



THE FIEST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 115 

called Belniont, on the western shore of the Missis- 
sippi opposite Columbus, where Polk had con- 
structed a camp. 

Learning that there was a detachment of Confeder- 
ates in Missouri about fifty miles southwest from 
Cairo, Grant sent a force under Colonel Oglesby 
against them. Later, on November 5th, he was 
advised that Polk was moving a strong force west 
from Columbus to attack Oglesby. In order to pre- 
vent this movement, Grant sent reinforcements to 
Oglesby, and also ordered Smith to advance from 
Paducah to threaten Columbus, and himself led an 
expedition of 3,100 men from Cairo by boat as a 
part of the same plan. Originally, this expedition 
was only designed to alarm Polk to the extent of re- 
calling his forces from the interior of Missouri, but 
when Grant saw the spirit of his men, he determined 
to attack the camp at Belmont. 

Landing on the west bank, about three miles 
above Belmont, Grant left the gunboats to watch 
the transports, and marched his men over a corn- 
field and through marshy ground and thickets, until 
he met the enemy. There was four hours' fighting 
between almost equal forces. Grant had a horse 
shot under him, but received another from a staff 
officer. Gradually the Confederates gave ground, 
and finally fled to the river bank, where they were 
covered by the guns from Columbus. Grant then 
seized the camp, and here his men scattered in the 
search for plunder and souvenirs of their first battle. 
Meanwhile the Confederates retreated along the 



116 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

bank, until they were between Grant and the boats. 
Also Polk, who had been held in check by Smith's 
advance, finally realized the plan by which thus far 
he had been outgeneraled, and hurrying four regi- 
ments to steamboats, sent them across the river as a 
reinforcement. With the prospect of another battle, 
Grant, unable to rally his disordered forces, set fire 
to the camp, and ordered a retreat. To the raw 
troops, under fire for the first time, there was a mo- 
ment of panic, as the Confederates, with fresh regi- 
ments approaching, now attacked their flanks. But 
Grant reassured his men that since they had cut 
their way in, they could cut it out again, and so led 
them back to the boats. The troops reirn barked 
on their transports, taking most of their wounded, 
and their General was the last to follow. Indeed, 
the planking had been pulled up, but it was hastily 
placed in position again as Grant's horse slid on its 
haunches down the river bank, and so bore its rider 
to the boat. Both McClernand and Logan, con- 
gressmen and soldiers, served in this battle and 
received their baptism of fire. 1 

Belmont was severely criticized in the North as a 
defeat, and it is, of course, evident that the Con- 
federates remained in possession of the field. Grant, 
however, claimed the battle as a victory, since it 
caused Polk to recall his detachments, and thus 
saved Oglesby. Moreover, the experience gave the 

1 The losses at Belmont were as follows : Union : Killed, 
120 ; wounded, 383 ; missing, 104. Confederate : Killed, 105 ; 
wounded, 419 ; missing, 117. 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FOET DONELSON 117 

meii confidence in tlieir chief, and seasoned them 
like veterans. "I feel truly proud to command 
such men," wrote Grant to his father on the next 
day. ". . . we fought our way from tree to 
tree through the woods to Belmont, about two and 
a half miles, the enemy contesting every foot of 
ground. ... It has given me a confidence in 
the officers and men of this command that will en- 
able me to lead them in any future engagement 
without fear of the result." 

During the next three months there were many 
changes in the military situation. Hunter was suc- 
ceeded by General Henry W. Halleck, who, on No- 
vember 19th, assumed command at St. Louis. At 
first Grant was apprehensive lest he should lose his 
command to some one with whom Halleck was better 
acquainted, but this fear was fortunately without 
foundation. Cairo was fast becoming a naval centre 
as well as a military post. In the summer of 1861 
James B. Eads had received a contract for the con- 
struction of seven armored gunboats, of light 
draught, adapted to operations on the rivers of the 
Middle West. He pushed this contract day and 
night, and by the latter part of November this fleet 
was delivered at Cairo. These boats were so con- 
structed as to draw six feet of water ; they carried thir- 
teen heavy guns each, were plated with 2 \ inch iron 
and had a speed of nine miles per hour. On Sep- 
tember 12th Andrew H. Foote arrived at Cairo, 
and took command of the fleet. River steamboats 
were reconstructed into war boats by the addition of 



118 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

armor, and these "tin-clads," as they were popu- 
larly called, were of the greatest service in all of the 
campaigns in the Mississippi Valley. 

While Grant and Foote were organizing their 
forces, the pressure of contractors caused some 
trouble at Cairo. It is a matter of intense regret 
that every great struggle brings to the front a group 
of men who seek a personal profit to the point of 
extortion in the hour of their country's danger. 
When Thomas A. Scott, then Assistant Secretary 
of War, arrived at Cairo, in February, on an in- 
spection tour for the government he found many 
cases of graft. Boats which had been bought and 
sold for $6,000 before the war were being leased to 
the government for $1,500 a month. 1 Against the 
practices of the dishonest contractors, Grant took a 
decisive stand. Even when his father, always keen 
to turn a dollar, asked for the influence of his son 
in some harness contract, Grant replied, "I cannot 
take an active part in securing contracts. If I were 
not in the army I should do so, but situated as I 
am, it is necessary both to my efficiency for the 
public good and my own reputation, that I should 
keep clear of government contracts. " Disappointed 
contractors, whose plans for profit were blocked by 
this unassuming man, found it to their advantage 
to circulate stories as to his habits and manner of 
life, and these found quick acceptance in army 
circles, where the story of the experiences at Fort 
Humboldt was known, generally in a much magni- 
1 See Stanton MSS. Library of Congress. 



THE FIEST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 119 

fied form. Moreover, he had not the personality to 
appeal to many of the newspaper men, who were at 
Cairo, and some of these used their great influence 
to give credence to scandals which were based on 
nothing but ill-natured gossip. General Prentiss 
justified his conduct in the Cape Girardeau cam- 
paign by saying that he would not serve under a 
drunkard ! Again, when Grant visited his sub- 
ordinates, Charles F. Smith and Lew Wallace, at 
Paducah, aud wine and cigars were served, sen- 
sational accounts were presently sent to Northern 
newspapers describing an orgy and a drunken revel. 
Unquestionably, the most serious trouble of these 

months arose over the arrest of Captain K , an 

officer of the quartermaster's department, who had 
a boat which had been seized by the government, 
and who demanded a compensation which to Grant 
seemed exorbitant. As the captain persisted in 
pressing his demands, Grant finally ordered him 
under arrest. After a few days K wrote Raw- 
lins, demanding to know the reason for his arrest, 
whereupon Grant endorsed on the letter that it was 
for disobedience and disrespect for his superior 

officer. Whereupon K addressed a letter to 

Halleck, accusing Grant of gambling, drunkenness 
and other abominable offenses. Halleck forwarded 
these charges to Grant, who endorsed thereon, 

"Captain K will please furnish a copy of these 

charges for this office, and one copy to be sent to 
the headquarters of the Department. — U. S. G." 
This method of dealing with charges that savored 



120 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

of blackmail was most effective, and while similar 
attacks were made throughout the entire course of 
the war, yet no official notice was ever taken of 
them. 

While complicated duties and personal problems 
were alike demanding attention, Grant was pre- 
paring for the campaign which was to make him a 
natioual figure. The Confederate line of defense 
ran from Columbus, through Bowling Green to 
Cumberland Gap, and was under the general com- 
mand of Albert Sidney Johnston. On the northern 
boundary of Tennessee, where the Cumberland and 
Tennessee Rivers were but twelve miles apart, were 
two forts, Donelson and Henry, which formed the 
centre of the line of defense. Facing the Con- 
federates were the forces under Grant, at Cairo and 
Paducah, and the Army of the Ohio, under Don 
Carlos Buell, one of whose divisions, under George 
H. Thomas, was on the extreme east at Cumberland 
Gap. Halleck and Buell had independent com- 
mands, both being subordinate to McClellau, but iu 
the sickness of the latter, in the winter of 1861-1862, 
they were practically without instructions from 
Washington. Lincoln strongly urged cooperation 
between these commanders, but both were cautious 
men, and while Halleck wanted to advance down 
the river, Buell favored a march on Nashville. 
It is quite possible that the spring might have 
arrived with no accomplishment, if it had not been 
for Grant. 

Early in Jauuary, under Halleck 's strict direc- 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 121 

tions to reconnoitre but to avoid a battle, Grant bad 
pusbed a strong column out from Cairo to Fort 
Henry, while Foote bad sent bis gunboats up tbe 
river to tbe same point. As a result, Grant re- 
ported personally to Halleck at St. Louis tbat be 
could take tbe fort. "I was cut sbort," be says, 
" as if my plan was preposterous." But in spite of 
tbis discouragement tbe matter was brought up 
again, and Foote strongly supported Grant's repre- 
sentations. Meanwhile, on January 19tb, Tbomas 
bad won a decisive victory over Zollicoffer at Cum- 
berland Gap, and Halleck began to feel that if he 
did not move soon, Buell's army would carry off 
tbe laurels. Moreover, tidings had come from the 
East that Beauregard would soon reinforce Johnston, 
and it was evident that delay meant playing tbe 
Confederates' game. So on January 30th Halleck 
telegraphed orders to take Fort Henry, and two 
days later Grant embarked 15,000 men on trans- 
ports, and with seven gunboats under Foote, started 
on an historic expedition. 1 

Fort Henry was located at the east bank of the 
Tennessee, and was connected with Fort Donelson 
by a road twelve miles long. But with a fatuity 
that could only have been born of inexperience, it 
had been built upon ground so low that it was 
certain to be covered by the overflow of the river in 



1 There is not the opportunity here to consider the mooted 
question as to who originated this expedition. Buell, McClel- 
lan and Halleck have each been assigned the credit by their 
partisans. 



122 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

the spring rains. General Lloyd Tilghman was in 
command with about 3,500 men. Eecognizing the 
weak point of his situation, he had tried to fortify 
the heights on the west bank. But Grant's rapid 
advance prevented this plan. The transports were 
unloaded three miles below the fort, and while one 
division was sent over to the west bank to seize the 
heights, the remainder of the troops were marched 
toward the rear of the fort to block any retreat to 
Donelson. Meanwhile, Tilghman had decided that 
his position was untenable, and during the night of 
February 5th, he ordered his forces to retire to 
Donelson, retaining less than one hundred men. 
On the morning of February 6th, the gunboats 
steamed up the river, firing when one mile away, 
and keeping up their bombardment until within six 
hundred yards. After a few hours, although the 
Essex had been disabled by a shot through the 
boiler, the heaviest guns of the fort were silenced, 
and Tilghman, having saved his army, hauled down 
his flag, and surrendered to Foote. Meanwhile, 
McOlernand's division marched to the road, so close 
upon the retreating forces that six pieces of ar- 
tillery and thirty-eight prisoners were taken. Im- 
mediately after the victory Grant telegraphed to 
Halleck : " Fort Henry is ours. ... I shall 
take and destroy Fort Donelson on the eighth. " But 
in this calculation he neglected to consider the 
weather, for the river was now steadily rising, and 
the intervening country was being flooded. 

The news of the taking of Fort Henry was re- 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 123 

ceived with great rejoicing in the North, and special 
significance was given to the triumph of the navy, 
a branch of the service in which the South was con- 
fessedly weak. The panic of the Confederates in 
north Tennessee was extreme, and some even drowned 
themselves in the river floods in their hurry to re- 
treat. The line of communication between Colum- 
bus and Bowling Green was broken, and Johnston, 
anticipating a sudden attack on Fort Donelson, and 
threatened by a forward movement of Buell's army, 
faced the loss of west Tennessee. In this situation, 
the highest generalship would have suggested a con- 
centration of his forces upon either Grant or Buell, 
preferably the former, who had pierced the enemy's 
country, and was most exposed to attack. In- 
stead of this policy, Johnston determined to abandon 
Bowling Green, and to divide his forces, so as to 
fight for Nashville at Donelson. Tilghman had been 
in general command of both forts, and after the con- 
centration of his army on the Cumberland, Fort 
Donelson was garrisoned by about 5,000 men. To 
their reinforcement, Johnston now sent Generals 
John B. Floyd and S. R. Buckner with 8,000 men, 
and later, General G. J. Pillow with 4,000 more, 
and himself retreated with 14,000 to Clarksvilleand 
Nashville. Reinforcements were also ordered to 
Donelson from Columbus, but the break in the line 
at the Tennessee River compelled their return. Of 
these commanders, Buckner was Grant's old com- 
rade at "West Point and his friend ; Pillow had held 
high command in the Mexican War, but was rated 



124 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

low by his opponent, and Floyd had been Secretary 
of War in Buchanan's administration. 

While this concentration was taking place, Grant 
had his own troubles iu preparing his expedition 
for Donelson. The condition of the river prevented 
the sudden march which he had designed, and he 
was compelled to delay. Writing to his sister from 
Fort Henry on February 9th, he said : " You have 
no conception of the amount of labor I have to per- 
form. An army of men all helpless, looking to the 
commanding officer for every supply. Your plain 
brother, however, has as yet no reason to feel him- 
self unequal to the task, and fully believes that he 
will carry on a successful campaign against our 
rebel enemy." 

The day after the surrender of Fort Henry, Grant 
made a personal examination of the works of the 
larger fort, and determined upon a speedy attack. 
Foote led his fleet north to the Ohio Eiver, and then 
steamed up the Cumberland so as to be in readiness 
for his part in the fight. He convoyed transports 
containing some fresh regiments which Halleck had 
ordered to the scene. On February 12th, Grant, 
leaving General Lew Wallace at Fort Henry with 
2,500 men, marched across the belt of land separat- 
ing the two forts with two divisions, led by Gen- 
erals Smith and McClernaud, numbering 15,000 
men. But while this force would have been ample 
to have invested Donelson in the previous week, the 
reinforcements had meanwhile arrived, and Grant's 
force was actually inferior to his opponent's. 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 125 

Fort Donelson was situated on the west bank of 
the Cumberland River, half a mile north of the town 
of Dover. It occupied a bluff on the river front, 
about one hundred feet high, and commanded navi- 
gation by two water-batteries. The fort proper em- 
braced about one hundred acres, but a line of rifle- 
pits and abattis, two and one-half miles in length, 
had been thrown up on the crest of the high ground 
which connected the fort with the town of Dover. 
Behind these fortifications was the Confederate 
army, Buckner commanding on the right, and Pil- 
low on the left. 

The Union army spent February 13th in taking 
its position, Smith on the left, while McClernand 
marched around to the right to block the road from 
Dover to the south. It was soon evident, however, 
that Grant's forces were not numerous enough to 
hold the entire line, and Wallace was speedily sum- 
moned from Fort Henry and placed between Smith 
and McClernand, with a hastily-organized division, 
consisting in large measure of the troops which had 
come by the transports. Meanwhile, the weather 
changed, and on February 13th the thermometer 
fell to ten degrees above zero, and a driving rain 
was succeeded by hail and snow. The suffering of 
the soldiers, who had started on this expedition 
without heavy coats and with but scanty supplies, 
was inteuse, but these privations only served to whet 
their desire to face the enemy who had evaded them 
one week before. 

On the morning of February 14th the fort was 



126 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

completely invested on the land side, and the pre- 
liminary operations had been in the main successful. 
The Confederates had missed their great chance. If 
they had attacked Grant while his columns were in 
march, or if they had rolled up his divisions before 
they were in position, the outcome might have been 
different. After the surrender, Buckner told Grant 
that if he had been in command, he would not have 
allowed the Northern army to take position so 
easily ; to which Grant replied, that if he had not 
known that Buckner was not in command, he would 
have approached in a far different manner. 

With the investment completed, Foote then led 
his gunboats to the attack, hoping to repeat the suc- 
cess at Fort Henry. But now the conditions were 
far different. The water-batteries and the cannon 
on the bluff received little damage from the fleet, 
while from their position, the Confederates were en- 
abled seriously to cripple the gunboats, disabling 
two, and wounding Foote, who was compelled to 
withdraw his fleet for repairs. That night there 
was a council of war in the Confederate camp, at 
which it was decided to cut a way of retreat. Pil- 
low was placed in charge of a sortie, to be directed 
against McClernand — so as to command the road 
from Dover — and Buckner withdrew some of his men 
from the right so as to be in a position to assist. 

At daybreak on the morning of the 15th Grant 
received a message from Foote, asking him to come 
on board the St. Louis for consultation. Grant at 
once rode up to the anchorage and had a long con- 



THE FIEST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 127 

ference with tlie wounded commander. Finally, it 
was decided that Foote should return to Cairo and 
refit his damaged boats, while Grant should main- 
tain the siege until Foote' s return. But this con- 
clusion was strangely altered by the suddenness of 
the Confederate attack. In the early morning 
hours, Pillow had attacked McCleruand with a 
column of 10,000 men, and although bravely re- 
sisted, he had gradually driven the Union forces 
away from the road, back upon Wallace. It was 
a stubborn contest, but at length the supply of 
ammunition was exhausted, and McCleruand was 
compelled to give ground. By noon the way of 
retreat was open, and the Confederates were at 
liberty to retire. But the success of his attack had 
altered Pillow's attitude, and he now began to have 
visions of a complete triumph. Hastily sendiug off 
a telegram to his superiors announcing victory, he 
ordered Buckner to attack Wallace, and so to follow 
up his success. 

Meanwhile, Grant returned ! He was greeted 
with tidings of disaster to the entire right wing. 
Unquestionably he faced a moral crisis. He could 
have retreated uow with honor, since the attack of 
the gunboats had failed, and the opposing army was 
almost as strong as his, and in far better physical 
condition. Never did his mental processes show to 
better advantage than in estimating the relative 
chances. He knew the weakness of his position, 
but he did not forget to appraise properly the 
weaknesses of his foe. A quick messenger was 



128 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

dispatched to Foote, urging that the gunboats re- 
appear to threaten the water-side. "A terrible 
conflict ensued in my absence, which has demoralized 
a portion of my command, and I think the enemy is 
much more so." Then, calculating that the force 
opposite Smith's fresh regiments must have been 
reduced to strengthen Fillow, he ordered an im- 
mediate attack on the Confederate right. Eiding 
down the line of battle, he and his aides passed 
around the word that the enemy were trying to run 
away. A Confederate knapsack filled with rations 
was picked up, and it afforded a chance for the 
conclusion that their soldiers had been provisioned 
for an escape. The soldiers quickly responded to 
these appeals, and the lines were reformed for the 
attack. At both ends of the line Grant's plans 
succeeded. Smith, leading his men to the attack 
in a charge which was the feature of the day, 
not only drove back the Confederates, but even 
effected a lodgment in the fort itself, holding by 
nightfall the key to the entire Confederate position. 
On the left, McClernand and Wallace regained all 
of the lost ground, holding the road more firmly 
than on the previous day, and driving Pillow be- 
hind his entrenchments. 

It was a sad evening inside the fort. Pillow up- 
braided his associates, but all recognized that their 
position could not be maintained. Floyd was under 
indictment in the Federal courts for malfeasance, 
and both he and Pillow attached over-great impor- 
tance to their own safety. Finally, Floyd agreed to 



THE FIKST BATTLES— FOET DONELSON 129 

turn over the command to Pillow, provided that he 
could use the only two steamboats for his own 
escape. Pillow in turn yielded command to 
Buckner, who announced that he would treat with 
Grant in the morning. Before the morning came, 
however, Floyd, with 1,500 Virginians, had sailed 
up the river in the steamboats ; Pillow and his 
staff were ferried across the river in a fiatboat and 
so made their escape ; Colonel N. B. Forrest with a 
band of cavalry rode past the Federal forces on an 
icy crust by the river ; and Buckner, with more 
than 12,000 men, was left to surrender. 

On Sunday morning, February 16th, Grant was 
just arranging for a final assault, when a note 
arrived from Buckner proposing an armistice to 
arrange for terms of surrender. Grant's reply be- 
came historic : " Sir : Yours of this date proposing 
armistice and appointment of commissioners to 
settle terms of capitulation is just received. No 
terms except an unconditional and immediate 
surrender can be accepted. I propose to move 
immediately upon your works." Buckner had 
conducted himself throughout in a most approved 
and soldierly manner, and he recognized that 
further resistance meant the useless slaughter of his 
men, and so, notwithstanding that he styled the 
terms offered as " ungenerous and unchi valric, " he 
accepted, and the white flag was displayed. 

An interesting side-light on the nature of the war 
is presented by the experience of General Lew 
Wallace, who, as soon as the capitulation was an- 



130 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

nounced, rode into the Confederate lines with his 
staff, and finding Bnckner at breakfast, sat down at 
table with his old army friend ! 

There were surrendered with Fort Donelson 
about 12,000 men, two general officers, Buckner 
and Bushrod K Johnson, 20,000 stand of arms and 
sixty cannon. 1 The moral effect of the victory was 
tremendous. For months, the anxious North had 
been waiting for good tidings from the field of 
battle. Enormous preparations and sacrifices in- 
numerable had been made. From the President in 
the White House to the anxious mother on the 
humblest farm, — all were waiting for some news 
that would tell for progress. When the telegraph 
carried the account of the surrender at Donelson, 
the North went delirious with joy — bonfires, bell- 
ringing, illumination. In Chicago, the Board of 
Trade adjourned, and from Cincinnati and Indian- 
apolis, special boats and trains were sent with 
supplies for the soldiers. Lincoln at once nominated 
Grant as a Major-General of Volunteers, to date 
from the surrender, and the Senate confirmed the 
appointment. As the details of the campaign be- 
came better known, Grant's letter to Buckner was 
recognized as a message to the Union, and through 
the appropriateness of the initials, " Sam " Grant 
became "Unconditional Surrender" Grant. 

Another result of the Donelson Campaign was 
that it marked the beginning of friendships with 

1 The Union losses in this battle were as follows : Killed, 
510; wounded, 2,152; missiug, 224. 



THE FIRST BATTLES— FORT DONELSON 131 

Win. T. Sherman and James B. MePherson. Sher- 
man was in command at Smithlaud, and hurried 
reinforcements to Grant, sending repeated messages 
of encouragement, and offering to come up the river 
himself and waive his seniority of rank, if he could 
but help. MePherson was now attached to the 
staff of General Halleck, and was active in forward- 
ing troops to Grant. The after-friendship of these 
three great soldiers, so free from any pettiness or 
personal rivalry, is one of the beautiful episodes of 
the war. 

The son of the leather-merchant had now become 
a national figure, and all awaited the next steps in 
his progress. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN — PITTSBURG LANDING 

The capture of Fort Donelson shattered the Con- 
federate line of defense. On February 14th, Johns- 
ton abandoned Bowling Green, and upon hearing 
of Grant's victory, at once determined to withdraw 
from Nashville. Buell urged the Army of the Ohio 
in pursuit, and on February 23d, when the Confed- 
erate rear-guard was marchiug out of Nashville, 
Buell' s advance was on the opposite side of the 
river. There were signs of demoralization in the 
Confederate camp, and Grant was always of the 
opinion that a vigorous advance at this time could 
have compelled the surrender of every post on the 
Mississippi. Certaiuly the Confederate Government 
appreciated the situation, and reinforcements with 
Beauregard, who was to act as second in command 
to Johnston, were hurried to Tennessee. Meanwhile 
Grant's advance compelled Polk to abandon his 
elaborate fortifications at Columbus, which he had 
boastfully styled "the Gibraltar of the West." 
The artillery was removed to Island No. 10, situated 
in a bend of the Mississippi one huudred miles be- 
low Cairo, near the northern boundary of Tennes- 
see, and this then became the limit of Confederate 
power. 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 133 

The success at Fort Douelson had but emphasized 
the ueed of cooperation among the Federal forces^ 
aud illustrated the folly of having two armies under 
iudepeudeut commanders iu the same field. Halleck 
was not slow to recognize this, — "Make Buell, 
Grant and Pope major-generals of volunteers, and 
give me command in the West," he telegraphed to 
Washington. " I ask this in return for Forts Henry 
and Douelson." But McClellau was uot willing to 
effect a consolidation of responsibility which would 
result iu limiting the independence of Buell. Hal- 
leck became more importunate. On February 19th 
he telegraphed McClellau: "Give it [the Western 
division] to me, and I will split secession in twaiu 
in one month;" and again, later, — "I must have 
command of the armies in the West. Hesitation 
and delay are losing us the golden opportunity." 
It would seem from these repeated messages that 
Halleck was fully cognizant of the unusual chance 
for opening the Mississippi. In fact, however, his 
orders to the generals in the field were confused aud 
contradictory, and show clearly the total absence of 
any proper conception of the real situation. Thus, 
immediately after the surrender of Douelson, his 
great fear was that the Confederates would ascend 
from Columbus and attack Cairo and Paducah ! 
Within certain obvious limitations, however, Hal- 
leck had two great merits — his sense of system and 
method which had brought order out of chaos in the 
Western field, and his loyal support of every sub- 
ordinate in the field when he needed help, which 



134 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

had led him to forward reinforcements and supplies 
to Grant before Donelson, and afterward to each of 
his other generals in their time of need. 

While the government was trying to determine a 
policy for the West, Grant was in undeserved dis- 
grace. After dispatching his prisoners to Cairo, he, 
now with an army of 27,000, looked around him for 
a new field of service. He resolved to proceed up 
the Cumberland River, and notifying Halleck of his 
plan, he embarked Smith's division on the trans- 
ports and under the protection of the gunboats 
took possession of Clarksville on February 20th. 
Meanwhile Nelson's division of the Army of the 
Ohio had reported to him at Donelson, and Grant 
directed these well-trained regiments to continue up 
the river to Nashville, where they rejoined Buell's 
command. Here Grant met Buell, whom he found 
apprehensive of a Confederate attack, and here he 
received orders to return to Fort Henry and prepare 
an expedition to go up the Tennessee Eiver, even as 
far as northern Mississippi and Alabama. But 
when Grant arrived at Fort Henry on March 4th, 
he received the following message from Halleck : 
" You will place Major-General C. F. Smith in com- 
maud of expedition, and remain yourself at Fort 
Henry. Why do you not obey my orders to report 
strength and positions of your command?" So 
that three weeks after the first great Northern vic- 
tory, the victor in that struggle saw his place taken 
by another ! 

For this action Halleck placed the blame on Mc- 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 135 

Clellan, and the latter attributed it to the former. 
Halleck had been asking McClellan for reinforce- 
ments, and McClellan had called on Halleck for a 
full report on the disposition of troops in his de- 
partment. Halleck, in turn, had called on Grant 
for information and had received no answer, for his 
message had not been received until Grant returned 
from Nashville. Meanwhile Halleck, becoming im- 
patient with no response, learned through an 
anonymous letter that there had been some disorder 
among the troops at Donelson, and, on edge with 
worry, jumped at the conclusion that the com- 
mander had gone off to Nashville on some sort of 
junketing expedition. On March 2d Halleck 
wired to McClellan, " I have had no communica- 
tion from Grant all the week. He left his command 
without my authority and went to Nashville. . . . 
I can get no report, no information of any kind from 
him. Satisfied with his victory, he sits down and 
enjoys it without any regard to the future. I am 
worn out and tired with this neglect and inefficiency." 
In reply, McClellan directed Grant's arrest, if the 
good of the service required it. On March 4th 
Halleck again reported to his chief : "A rumor has 
just reached me that since the taking of Fort Donel- 
son Grant has resumed his former bad habits. If 
so, it will account for his repeated neglect of my 
often-repeated orders. I do not deem it advisable to 
arrest him at present, but have placed General Smith 
in command of the expedition up the Tennessee. I 
think Smith will restore order and discipline." 



136 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Not until after the war was over did Grant learn 
that his removal was based on Halleck's charges. 
He replied to his chief in respectful protest, stating 
that he had reported daily, and asking that he be 
relieved from command. Meanwhile, McClellan 
had started on his Peninsular Campaign, and one of 
the first results was evidenced on March 11th, when 
he was removed from general control of the army, 
and Halleck was placed in charge of the Western 
departments, as far east as Knoxville, thus embrac- 
ing Buell's command. Two days before this order, 
Thomas A. Scott had telegraphed to Stanton that he 
was sorry to hear of Grant's removal from command 
of the Tennessee expedition. "The effect on the 
men, on the eve of the forward movement up the 
Tennessee, will be rather prejudicial than other- 
wise." Lincoln was commencing to appreciate the 
difficulties caused by professional jealousies, and 
lest injustice might be done, directed Halleck to re- 
port at once upon Grant's conduct. A few days 
later Halleck replied, completely exonerating 
Grant, and at the same time notified him to resume 
command of his army. "Instead of relieving you, 
I wish you, as soon as your new army is in the field, 
to assume the immediate command and lead it on to 
new victories." 

During the two weeks of this experience, Grant's 
anxiety was extreme, but when the episode was 
closed, he wrote to Washburne his account of the 
difficulty in these terms : " After getting into Donel- 
son, General Halleck did not hear from me for near 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 137 

two weeks. It was about the same time before I 
heard from him. I was writing every day, and 
sometimes as often as three times a day. Reported 
every move and change, the condition of my troops, 
etc. Not getting these, General Halleck very justly 
became dissatisfied, and was, as I have since learned, 
sending me daily reprimands. Not receiving them, 
they lost their sting. When one did reach me, not 
seeing the justice of it, I retorted, and asked to be 
relieved. All is now understood, however, and I 
feel sure that General Halleck is fully satisfied. In 
fact, he wrote me a letter saying that I could not be 
relieved, and otherwise quite complimentary. I 
will not tire you with a longer letter, but assure you 
again that you shall not be disappointed in me if it 
is in my power to prevent it." 

The Tennessee River expedition had started un- 
der Smith on March 10th. Stopping at various 
strategic points on the river, the advance-guard, 
under General Sherman, had even reached Eastport, 
in the northern part of Mississippi, and lauded 
there, with a view to the destruction of a railroad 
bridge. Meanwhile the spring freshets had caused 
the overflow of the river, and Sherman was unable 
to move his men on land. So he returned down the 
river to some high ground at Pittsburg Landing, 
where he found Hurlburt' s division encamped. Th is 
reconnaissance showed that the Confederates were 
in considerable force in the direction of Corinth, an 
important railroad centre about twenty miles south 
of the Landing. Upon Sherman's return he found 



138 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

that Grant had been restored to his command, and 
Smith was suffering from an untimely wound, that 
later ended his promising career. 

When Grant rejoined his comrades on the Ten- 
nessee, there was a general feeling that a decisive 
battle would soon be fought. As early as March 
1st, Scott, in writing Stanton, predicted a great bat- 
tle near the Tennessee line. It was evident that the 
surrender of Corinth would cause the evacuation of 
Memphis, and hence the abandonment of the state 
to the North. Recognizing the outlook, Halleck 
ordered Buell to bring his army to the line of the 
river, to make a junction with Grant, but his later 
orders were not definite as to the line of march, and 
so this concentration was delayed. 

Meanwhile, Johnston had determined to make a 
desperate effort to destroy Grant's army before 
Buell arrived. Corinth was a junction point for 
two railroads — the Memphis and Charleston, run- 
ning east and west, and the Mobile and Ohio, run- 
ning north and south. From all directions, rein- 
forcements were hurried to the Confederate camp. 
Polk brought his men from Columbus, and Bragg 
arrived with a large detachment from the coast. 
By the end of March, Johnston had a well-appointed 
army of 40,000, with 100 guns, divided into three 
corps, commanded by Polk, Bragg and Hardee, and 
a reserve under Breckinridge, the whole commanded 
by the general in whom Davis had most supreme 
confidence, witli Beauregard as second in command. 

"While the enemy was concentrating for attack, 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 139 

Grant was awaiting the arrival of Buell, before 
operating agaiust Corinth. He had five divisions 
at Pittsburg Landing, under Sherman, Hurlburt, 
Prentiss, McClernand and W. H. L. Wallace, who 
had succeeded Smith in active command. One di- 
vision, under Lew Wallace, was at Crump's Laud- 
ing, five miles below, protecting transports and 
stores, and Grant himself was at Savannah, ou the 
east bank of the river, nine miles below the Land- 
ing, where Buell' s forces were expected to concen- 
trate. In all, Grant had also about 40,000 men in- 
cluding Lew Wallace, but the divisions of Sherman 
and Prentiss were raw recruits, who received their 
first real drilling on the battle-field. 

Pittsburg Landing was on the west bank of the 
Tennessee, and was surrounded by high but broken 
ground. It was a strong position for defense. Ou 
the north was Snake Creek, and its tributary, Owl 
Creek, and on the south was Lick Creek, all im- 
passable at this seasou by fording. Between these 
two were the camps of the five divisions, with a 
front of about three miles, covering the Landing in 
the rear. Sherman was on the extreme right at 
Shiloh Church, with Stuart's brigade on the ex- 
treme left, at the mouth of Lick Creek ; next was 
Prentiss's division, and in the rear were McCler- 
nand' s and Hurlburt' s divisions ; and then near the 
Landing was W. H. L. Wallace. These troops were 
not in line of battle ; there were breaks between reg- 
iments and brigades, and there were no entrench- 
ments of any kind, — it was simply a camp. 



140 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

On April 3d the Confederate army marched out 
from Corinth, but, although the distance to the 
Landing was only twenty miles, the roads were in 
such a wretched condition that it was Saturday after- 
noon, April 5th, before they had reached the Fed- 
eral line. Beauregard had charge of the formation 
for the battle and he had arranged the army in three 
parallel lines, the first consisting of Hardee's corps, 
then Bragg's, while Polk's corps formed the third 
line with Breckinridge in reserve. When the Con- 
federates were in position for the attack, there was 
a council of war, at which Beauregard suggested an 
abandonment of the attack. He argued that the 
march had been so delayed by the condition of the 
roads that obviously the enemy must have had some 
notice, and consequently the effect of a surprise 
would be lost. But Johnston, realizing the hope- 
lessness of a battle after the junction with Buell 
should have been effected, overruled him, and or- 
dered an attack for daybreak. 

It is difficult to conceive that a hostile army of 
40,000 could have camped in the woods within two 
miles of the Federal line, and not have been discov- 
ered, but nevertheless, that is the fact. Grant usu- 
ally spent the daytime at the Landing, and then 
retired at night to Savannah, where he was await- 
ing Buell. On April 4th there had been skirmish- 
ing on the picket-line, and as he was returning from 
the front, his horse slipped in the mud, and fell on 
his leg, causing an injury which kept him on 
crutches for the next few days. On April 5th 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 141 

Grant wrote to Halleck : u I have scarcely the faint- 
est idea of an attack being made upon us, but will 
be prepared should such a thing take place." It is 
evident that the victories of the earlier campaign 
had imbued all minds with the notion that the Con- 
federates had not the spirit for an offensive attack, 
and that they would quietly await at Corinth the 
onset of their enemy. On the same day, Nelson's 
division of the Army of the Ohio arrived at Savan- 
nah, and was ordered by Grant to Hamburg, four 
miles above the Landing, where there was a road to 
Corinth, parallel to that from the Landing, so that 
the two columns could march on the common foe, 
within supporting distance of each other. 

But the foe had no intention of awaiting an attack 
at Corinth. Early on Sunday morning, April 6th, 
Prentiss ordered three companies to make a skir- 
mish in front of his lines. Advancing through the 
woods for a mile, they met Hardee's corps, about 
five o'clock, and thus the battle opened. The Con- 
federates advanced slowly but steadily until they 
met the main line of battle under Sherman and 
Prentiss. It is difficult to describe the battle of 
Pittsburg Landiug, or Shiloh, as the Confederates 
termed it. As has been well said by General Force : 
"A combat made up of numberless separate en- 
counters of detached portions of broken lines, con- 
tinually shifting position and changing direction in 
the forest and across ravines, filling an entire day, 
is almost incapable of a connected narrative. 



)) i 



1 M. F. Force, "From Fort Henry to Corinth," p. 124. 



142 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

The nature of the ground hindered offensive op- 
erations. In general, the battle-field was shaped 
like an equilateral triangle, about three miles on 
each side. On the east was the line of the Tennes- 
see River, with the steamboat-landing about mid- 
way, and here was the key of the position, since 
without its control reinforcements could not be re- 
ceived or a retreat conducted. On the northwest 
line were Snake and Owl Creeks, impassable to the 
enemy for a flank attack, spanned by two bridges 
about two miles apart, for the river and Purdy 
roads, by which Lew Wallace must approach. On 
the southwest, closing the mouth of the triangle, 
was the Federal line of battle, extending three miles 
from Sherman, holding the creek on the right, to 
Stuart by the river on the left. Within this area 
there were forest, ravines, marshes, clearings, im- 
penetrable thickets and dense brush, averaging ten 
feet in height. 

After the preliminary skirmishing, the full force 
of Hardee's attack fell upon Sherman and Prentiss. 
As the other columns of Confederates came up, the 
Northern troops were compelled gradually to retire. 
Then ensued a series of almost individual combats. 
A regiment or brigade would take position on the 
edge of a clearing, a marsh, or ravine, and hold it, 
until the overwhelming force of the enemy would 
outflank the northern line. Then the Federals 
would retire and form a new line of battle in the 
rear, reach out to connect with their friends on 
either side, and make a new stand. Thus, McCler- 



THE COKINTH CAMPAIGN 143 

nand's division had eight separate lines of battle 
during the day. 

As soon as the heavy fighting commenced, the di- 
visions nearer the Lauding hurried up to the line of 
battle, and eventually by ten o'clock a fairly con- 
tinuous line had been formed from right to left, as 
follows, — Sherman, McOlernand, Wallace, Prentiss, 
Hurlburt and Stuart's brigade. In spite of the sud- 
denness of the attack, aud the rawness of many of 
the men, this line was held with great vigor and 
fortitude, aud there cau be no question but that the 
division commanders performed their work skil- 
fully and bravely. But the Confederates had the 
advantage in numbers and the momentum of a suc- 
cessful attack. Moreover, in the excitement of the 
battle, and the disorder of continually shifting po- 
sitions, men straggled from their battle-line and fled 
to the Landing. Even with these losses, the resist- 
ance was so great that it caused Johnston to lose 
sight of his original object, which had been to turn 
the Federal left so as to seize the Landing, and, in- 
stead, to waste precious time and life in direct frontal 
attacks. 

This was the situation wheu Grant arrived. He 
had spent the night at Savannah, and while at break- 
fast, had heard the sound of heavy firing from Pitts- 
burg Landing. Leaving a hurried note for Buell, who 
had arrived at Savannah during the previous night, 
he took a steamboat up the river to join his army. 
On his way, he stopped at Crump's Landing, and 
found Lew Wallace, with his men under arms, 



144 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

awaiting orders. Arriving at the Landing about 
eight o'clock, Grant rode out on the line of battle, 
and recognizing the seriousness of the situation, dis- 
patched orders for Wallace to come up at once, and 
also sent to Buell to bring up the Army of the Ohio. 
Unfortunately, Wallace's instructions as to roads 
were not clear, and he started on the inner or Purdy 
road, which would have brought him into the Con- 
federate rear. In the afternoon he was found and 
recalled by Grant's orders to the river road, but the 
detour cost several valuable hours. 

Meanwhile Grant, on the field of battle, rode from 
general to general, encouraging them with the hope 
of early reinforcements, and directing that the line 
be held as strongly as possible. He had little to do 
with the tactics of the battle. Rarely has there been 
seen a fight in which all of one army was continu- 
ously engaged against all of the other which was on 
the battle-field. As Grant said in his " Memoirs," 
it was " Southern dash against Northern pluck and 
endurance," and the best that generals could do 
was to stimulate the fighting qualities of their men. 

In the early afternoon, about 2 :30 p. m., Johns- 
ton, while leading his men in an assault against 
the centre, was mortally wounded, but his death 
caused no permanent cessation of hostilities. Even- 
tually, about 5 :30 p. m., a disaster occurred in the 
Federal centre, where Prentiss and Wallace had so 
bravely defended a slope against repeated attacks, 
that their position was called the u Hornets' Nest." 
Stuart was obliged to give ground, and his retreat 



THE C01UNTH CAMPAIGN 145 

forced Hurlburt back. On the right, McClernand 
had reformed ou Sherman. This left the two divi- 
sions in the centre isolated, and Bragg poured his 
men into the openings. Grant had impressed upon 
Prentiss the necessity of holding his position, and so 
he determined to maintain his ground. Wallace, 
with most of his division, cut his way through the 
enemy, receiving a mortal wound, which closed thus 
early a most promising military career. Prentiss, 
however, was surrounded by overwhelming forces, 
and with 2,200 of his men was obliged to surrender. 

The stubborn resistance of the centre had saved 
the day. Webster, of Grant's staff, had formed a 
line of artillery on a bluff on the extreme left, to 
protect the Lauding. Ammen's brigade of Nelson's 
division, the advance of the Army of the Ohio, went 
into the same position. The last Confederate at- 
tack on this bloody Sunday was made here, and 
with its failure, Beauregard, who had succeeded 
Johnston, ordered his men to cease fighting for the 
day. Meanwhile two gunboats, the Tyler and Lex- 
ington, had taken position in line with the artillery 
and shelled the woods beyond, and eventually the 
Confederates retired about a mile, or to the position 
of the Federal camps in the early morning. 

During the night, Wallace's division arrived on 
the extreme right, and Nelson, Crittenden, and in 
the early morning, McCook, took position on the 
extreme left. These reinforcements brought 26,000 
fresh men into line, and Grant determined to reopen 
the battle the next day. Buell was to command his 



H6 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

men on the left, and Grant, with the remnants of the 
Army of the Tennessee, on the right. At day- 
break the battle commenced, this time the Federals 
being the aggressors. Against fresh troops and 
stronger numbers, Beauregard interposed a stub- 
born but ineffectual resistance. His men soon be- 
came exhausted, and large numbers fell out of line 
aud straggled back to Corinth. Everywhere the 
aggressors were the victors, and in the early after- 
noon, when Grant himself headed an attack on the 
Corinth road, Beauregard gave the word to with- 
draw. 

There was practically no pursuit. Two days of 
the hardest kind of fighting had used up the Army 
of the Tennessee, and while the Army of the Ohio 
had suffered much less in the battle, its men were 
exhausted with their forced marches to the battle- 
field. A vigorous pursuit might have taken Corinth, 
for the Confederates were equally worn out and dis- 
organized, but this opportunity, like many another 
in the early days of the war, was not utilized. 1 

No battle of the war has given rise to more con- 
troversy, on both sides, than Pittsburg Lauding. 
The critics charged that Grant's army was surprised 
in its tents, that there were no proper prepara- 
tions, with an enemy so close at hand, and that the 

1 The total losses were reported as follows : 
Federals — 

Grant : killed, 1,513 ; wounded, 6,601 ; missing, 2,830. 

Bnell: " 241; " 1,807; " 55. 

Confederates — 

killed, 1,728; " 8,012; " 959. 



THE COKINTH CAMPAIGN 147 

battle was fought without system or direction. The 
Army of the Ohio asserted that it had saved the 
day, and that without Buell's reinforcement, the 
Army of the Tennessee would have been driven into 
the river ; that when Buell arrived, Grant's army 
had, in large measure, straggled to the rear and was 
completely disorganized. On the other hand, Grant 
and Sherman vehemently denied that there was any 
surprise, and pointed out the alarm given by the 
pickets and the stubborn resistance during the 
hard fighting of the first day as evidence that their 
army did all that could be expected of it. Grant 
always claimed that the Confederates would have 
been defeated even if Buell had not arrived, and 
that the back-bone of the enemy's attack had been 
broken before any of the Army of the Ohio were in 
the battle-line. The truth probably lies between 
these two extremes. Grant was not expecting an ag- 
gressive movement by the enemy and consequently, 
only ordinary precautions were taken at the camp, 
but when the attack came there was no surprise in 
the sense that the defenders were immediately 
routed and fled. The stubborn resistance on the 
part of soldiers, many of whom were then obtaining 
their first baptism of fire, disproves absolutely this 
conception of a surprise at Shiloh. The victory 
was won by the common soldiers, and not by gen- 
eralship. 

Another point of controversy concerning which 
many excited narratives have been given, related to 
Grant's conduct on the field of battle. He gave few 



148 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

orders, but then it was the kind of fight in which few 
orders needed to be given. Perhaps the best-sub- 
stautiated episode is that reported by Whitelaw 
Beid, who was then serving his apprenticeship as a 
newspaper correspondent, and who states that in the 
late afternoon, when the last attack was made on the 
artillery protecting the Landing, Grant sat his horse, 
"quiet, thoughtful and almost stolid," and when 
one asked him if the prospect was not gloomy, re- 
plied, ' ' Not at all. They can' t force our lines around 
these batteries to-night — it is too late. . . . To- 
morrow we shall attack them with fresh troops and 
drive them, of course." From this conversation, 
says Eeid, he dated the beginning of his belief in 
Grant's greatness. Many great generals have made 
mistakes through inexperience — even Frederick the 
Great counted Mollwitz as his training-school ; and 
the best that can be said for Grant is that whatever 
mistakes may have been made at Shiloh were never 
repeated in his after-career. 

Among the Confederates, the controversy has 
raged with equal bitterness. The friends of Johnston 
created an apotheosis of this much-admired com- 
mander and described him as dying in the moment 
of victory, the results of which were afterward 
thrown away by his successor. Bragg severely 
criticized Beauregard for ordering a cessation of at- 
tack at six o'clock on the first day, claiming that 
one more united effort would have broken down the 
resistance of the enemy and swept Grant's army 
into the river. Perhaps the fairest comment that 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 149 

can be made is that the generalship on both sides 
showed lack of experience in handling large bodies 
of men, and that the fighting qualities on each side, 
both of soldiers and generals, were equally admirable. 

The reports of the battle in the Northern news- 
papers created an outburst of public sentiment 
against Grant. It was freely charged that he had 
neglected his army through dissipation, that he had 
recklessly exposed his men, and that he was in the 
rear in the time of crisis. This public exasperation 
was doubtless increased by the dismay at the tre- 
mendous loss of life. Pittsburg Landing was the 
bloodiest battle that had ever been fought up to this 
time in the history of the Union. If this campaign 
had occurred a few months later, when the public 
mind had been accustomed to heavy losses on the 
battle-field, there probably would have been a bet- 
ter balance in the popular attitude. But the pub- 
lic was inexperienced as well as the generals, and 
there arose a sudden but wide-spread clamor for 
Grant's dismissal. In Congress Washburne was 
still his friend, but there were few others. Colonel 
A. K. McClure has narrated a visit to Lincoln which 
he made at this time to voice the protest against 
Grant's continuance in command. It was then that 
Lincoln replied, after long deliberation, " I can't 
spare this man ; he fights." l 

Upon the same day that Beauregard retired from 
the bloody field at Shiloh a great victory had been 

1 McClure, "Abraham Lincoln and Men of War-Times." 
p. 196. 



150 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

won on the Mississippi, when the Confederate gar- 
rison at Island No. 10, surrounded and outnumbered, 
with Federal gunboats above and below, surrendered 
to General Pope. On April 11th, General Halleck 
arrived at Pittsburg Landing and taking personal 
command, proceeded to organize an attack upon 
Corinth. Ten days later Pope's army was brought 
down from the Mississippi and this gave Halleck 
100,000 men, the largest army which had ever as- 
sembled west of the Alleghanies. He reorganized 
this well-equipped force into three divisions, — 
Thomas with the bulk of the Army of the Tennessee 
forming the right wing, Buell with the Army of the 
Ohio in the centre, and Pope with the Army of the 
Mississippi forming the left wing. Grant was osten- 
sibly second in command, but as the other generals 
reported directly to Halleck he was practically ig- 
nored in the campaign which followed. Meanwhile 
Beauregard with his defeated army had been largely 
reinforced from Arkansas, so that he held Corinth 
with about 50,000 men. 

The proper strategy would have suggested that the 
Confederate army was the real objective point, and 
that the overwhelming superiority of the Federals 
should have been employed in blocking the retreat 
of the enemy. Instead Halleck, whose native cau- 
tion had been much increased by the slaughter at 
Shiloh, determined upon a careful siege. With ex- 
cessive deliberation the Federal forces devoted the 
month of May to marching the twenty miles from 
Pittsburg Landing to Corinth. Beauregard recog- 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 151 

nized that resistance was useless, and on May 29th 
removed his men and supplies, taking even the 
wounded, sixty miles south to Tupelo, leaving as 
trophies for the victors only a few logs mounted as 
Quaker cannon. 

While the capture of Corinth was thus a barren 
victory, its possession was of great strategic im- 
portance. A few days later Fort Pillow was aban- 
doned and on June 6th Memphis, the leading city 
of Tennessee, surrendered to the Federal fleet. 
Some weeks before, Farragut and Butler had con- 
ducted a successful campaigu at New Orleans so that 
the Mississippi River was now open at its mouth 
and was under Federal control except for the forti- 
fications at Vicksburg, four hundred miles below 
Memphis. Again a golden opportunity was missed. 
If twenty thousand men had been sent against 
Vicksburg which then had not been extensively for- 
tified and where there was the only line of railroad 
running east and west under Confederate control, 
it is probable that the summer of 1862 would have 
witnessed the opening of the Mississippi. Instead 
Halleck divided his forces. The Army of the Ohio 
under Buell, and later Thomas, was sent east along 
the line of the Memphis railroad to threaten Chatta- 
nooga. Beauregard, who had been relieved from 
command because of non-success, was succeeded by 
Bragg who led over half of his army by way of Mo- 
bile to Chattanooga to block Buell' s plans. The re- 
mainder of the Confederate forces under Van Dorn 
remained in Mississippi to protect Vicksburg. 



152 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

During the Corinth campaign Grant occupied an 
unenviable position. The clamor against him in 
the North, while it had not affected his associates 
in the battle, had certainly inspired Halleck with 
distrust, and he was practically in disgrace. Sher- 
man, in his "Memoirs," states that shortly after the 
evacuation of Corinth, he learned that Grant was 
going to leave the army. He at once rode out to the 
headquarters and found Grant and his staff packing 
up. When he inquired the reason, Grant said, 
"Sherman, you know. You know I am in the way 
here. I have stood it as long as I can, and can en- 
dure it no longer." His faithful friend remon- 
strated, pointing out the sudden changes in public 
sentiment which might be expected, and finally 
Grant reconsidered his intention. Better days were 
in store. McClellan's failure before Richmond had 
diverted the clamor to another, and on July 11th 
Halleck was ordered to Washington to command all 
of the armies of the North. He took Pope with him 
and left Grant in charge of the district of west Ten- 
nessee embracing the territory west of the Cumber- 
land River with headquarters at Corinth and Mem- 
phis. 

Halleck's grand army had been so depleted with 
detachments that Grant had scarcely 50,000 men to 
hold the district from Cairo to Corinth, most of 
whom were needed for garrison duty. Grant placed 
Sherman at Memphis and made his own headquar- 
ters at Corinth. For some time his orders prohib- 
ited offensive operations, as it was expected that 



THE CORINTH CAMPAIGN 153 

his men might be needed to reinforce Buell. More- 
over tbe controversy about Shiloh was still raging 
in tbe newspapers and Grant's superiors bad not yet 
full confidence in his ability. Writing to his father 
on August 3d, he said, " You must not expect me to 
write in my own defense nor to permit it from any 
one about me. I know thatthe feeling of the troops 
under my command is favorable to me, and so loug 
as I continue to do my duty faithfully it will remain 
so. ... I do not expect nor want the support 
of the Cincinnati press on my side." Later, on 
September 17th, he wrote to his father again : "I 
have not an enemy in the world who has done me 
so much injury as you in your efforts in my defense. 
I require no defenders and for my sake let me 
alone. " 

In the autumn of 1862, two decided victories 
were wou by Grant's command at Iuka and Corinth. 
General Eosecrans commanded at Corinth, and was 
opposed by a strong army which Price had led from 
Missouri to cooperate in Bragg's Northern invasion. 
Price seized Iuka, which was twenty miles south- 
east from Corinth, and Grant planned an attack 
upon this isolated force. Eosecrans, with 9,000 men, 
advanced from Corinth by a western road, while 
Grant, with 8,000 men under Old, hurried toward 
Iuka from the north. Price attacked Eosecraus on 
September 19th, and was fought to a standstill, but 
learning of the approach of Ord's column, he 
hastily evacuated Iuka, aud abandoning all hope of 
joining Bragg, he slipped around Eosecrans, and 



154 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

joined his forces to Van Dorn's army in northern 
Mississippi. 

Early in October Van Dorn united all of the 
forces under his command for the attack upon 
Corinth, which he vainly hoped would throw Grant 
back to Fort Donelson. Grant had not sufficient 
forces to garrison properly all the points of this dis- 
trict, but learning of the approach of Van Dorn, he 
hurried McPherson and Hurlburt to Eosecraus's 
aid and the battle of Corinth, which was fought on 
October 4th, was a complete victory for the North, 
Van Dorn's frenzied assaults being repulsed with 
great slaughter. On October 25th, Grant was placed 
in command of the department of Tennessee charged 
with the special duty of taking Vicksburg. Rein- 
forcements were hurried to him from the northwest, 
and after a few weeks he was once more in a posi- 
tion to assume the offensive. 

He was now to enter upon the campaign which 
from the point of view of tactics and strategy must 
ever be regarded as the most brilliant of his career ! 



CHAPTER VIII 

VICKSBURG 

The autumn of 1862 was the high-water mark of 
Confederate success. Aloug three lines the armies 
of the South invaded the territory held by their foe, 
in a vain effort to throw back the tide of Northern 
invasion. In the East, McClellan's failure before 
Richmond gave Lee an opportunity for the invasion 
of Maryland, which iiually culminated in defeat at 
Antietam. In the Middle West Bragg united his 
forces for a sudden movement north, and passing 
Buell's army, threatened Nashville, Louisville and 
even Cincinnati, and seizing Lexington, inaugurated 
a secessionist governor for Kentucky in Frankfort. 
Eventually, this movement spent its force, and 
Bragg was compelled to withdraw again to Ten- 
nessee. In the line of the Mississippi, the Con- 
federate advance under Van Dorn and Price 
attained least momentum, and, at luka and Corinth, 
was most decisively repelled, and as a result the 
successful commander of this department increased 
most in prestige. 

Meanwhile, a change had come over the char- 
acter of the war. The bloody battles of the East and 
West had ended all visions of an easy victory, and 
both sides now realized the intensity of the struggle. 



156 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

It was war, cruel and grim, to be continued on a con- 
tinental scale until there was a complete triumph, 
and gradually public opinion became educated to 
the magnitude of the task. " Up to the battle of 
Suiloh, I, as well as thousands of other citizens, be- 
lieved that the rebellion against the Government 
would collapse suddenly aud soon, if a decisive vic- 
tory could be gained over any of its armies. . . . 
But when Confederate armies . . . assumed the 
offensive and made such a gallant effort to regain 
what had been lost, then, indeed, I gave up all idea 
of saving the Union except by complete conquest. " 
Such was Grant's opinion in the "Memoirs," and 
with the spread of this conviction the war now as- 
sumed a sterner and more sombre aspect. The Con- 
federates were no longer "erring brothers"— they 
were enemies,— traitors with arms in their hands 
whose power must be completely destroyed. 

As the early visions of reconciliation vanished, 
the policy of the Government became more deter- 
mined and radical. Against the tremendous pres- 
sure of the Abolitionists, Lincoln stood out strongly 
against converting a war for the Union into a war 
against slavery. But when this policy of modera- 
tion had given opportunity for reviving and con- 
solidating the spirit of loyalty to the Union in the 
border states, it became evident that slave labor was 
being used by the South in many lines which 
hampered the success of the North. Those who 
were to be the chief beneficiaries of a successful war 
were employed, under the pressure of their masters, 



VICKSBUEG 157 

in erecting fortifications, raising supplies, etc., for 
the defeat of the war. Some of the early command- 
ers recognized this problem when they ingeniously 
declared the negro to be "contraband of war," and 
encouraged the escape of slaves to the Northern lines 
where they could be used in the work of the cam- 
paign. Public sentiment in the North had come to 
recognize that a restoration of the Union with slavery 
was impossible, and hence was ready to support the 
policy of emancipation set forth by Lincoln in the 
memorable Proclamation of September 22, 1862. 

Until this announcement Grant was but little in- 
terested in abolition. His early associations with 
his wife's family in St. Louis had enabled him to 
see the patriarchal aspect of slavery which presented 
its most favorable light. As a soldier, it was his 
business to obey orders and to fight, not to discuss 
political policies. " So long as I hold a commission 
in the army," he wrote to Washburne, " I have no 
views of my own to carry out. Whatever may be 
the orders of my superiors and the law, I will 
execute. No man can be efficient as a commander 
who sets his own notions above law and those whom 
he has sworn to obey. When Congress enacts any- 
thing too odious for me to execute, I will resign." 
This military attitude had already brought upon 
him the criticism of the extremists. After Fort 
Donelson, it was freely charged that he had driven 
away negroes from his camp, and had even sent 
slaves back to their masters. The basis for the 
charge seems to have been this, — some negroes rep- 



158 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

resented that they were free men, brought to the 
fort to work for pay. These were allowed to go 
away to their homes, but even thus early slave- 
owners were not permitted to pass through the 
camp in search of slaves. 

While commander at Memphis, the problem of 
the negroes became more acute. In a country where 
secession was rampant, practically all of the slave- 
holders were enemies, and the slaves were not slow 
to avail themselves of the presence of the armies of 
the North. The plantations were left deserted, al- 
though in many cases the fields were ripe for the 
harvest, and a frightened horde of negroes followed 
the armies, asking for protection, food and all the 
necessaries of life. Grant wired to Halleck for in- 
structions, and when word was received that these 
freedmen could be employed, he at once determined 
to organize them as a help to his campaign. Early 
in November he appointed John Eaton, then 
chaplain of an Ohio regiment, to take charge of the 
contrabands. Henceforth, the negroes were received 
by the army, and Eaton assigned them to work, — 
picking cotton, cutting wood, transporting supplies, 
etc. They were paid a regular wage for their work, 
and the cotton from the abandoned plantations 
was sold for the credit of the Government, to meet 
the expense of their subsistence. In this work, 
paralleled by the experience of other commanders 
on the Atlantic Coast, was the inception of the idea 
of the Freedmen' s Bureau. There were some com- 
manders who regarded this long-oppressed race with 



VICKSBURG 159 

contempt, and who spoke slightingly of efforts to 
give the negro the dignity of self-support, but from 
the beginning, says Eaton, "there was no room for 
doubt as to the value and rarity of Grant's sympathy 
and foresight." x 

Nor was the care for the freedmen the only non- 
military duty of a department commander in a con- 
quered region. The desire for cotton brought many 
speculators to Memphis, and they were soon fol- 
lowed by a rapacious army of contractors, sutlers, 
etc., whose patriotism was limited by their desire to 
make money out of the Government. With this 
class Grant was never popular. His wide experi- 
ence as a quartermaster, and his familiarity with 
business conditions, as well as his personal integrity, 
made it impossible to bribe him, and, in army mat- 
ters, difficult to fool. In one case the contractors 
for forage had formed a pool, and the lowest price 
was one-third higher than the price in the open 
market. The quartermaster- general at St. Louis 
approved t the contract, but Grant annulled it, and 
when a contest was threatened, notified the con- 
tractor that he would never approve a voucher for a 
single cent under that contract. When one of 
Lincoln's closest political friends interceded in a hay 
contract, Grant threatened him wi th arrest. Hasten- 
ing to Washington, the indignant lawyer laid his 
complaint before the President, to be met with the 
characteristic retort,— "If I were you, I should 
keep out of Ulysses Simpson's bailiwick, for to the 

1 John Eatoii, " Grant, Lincoln and the Freedmen," p. 45. 



160 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

best of my knowledge and belief, Grant will keep his 
promise ! " 

While all this administrative work was progress- 
ing, large additions to the army had been received, 
and the call of the country was peremptory for an 
advance to Vicksburg. At the end of 1862, the 
leading strongholds of the South were Richmond, 
Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and of these three, it 
may be questioned whether even the capital equaled 
Vicksburg in its importance to the life of the Con- 
federacy. The Red River, which flows through 
Texas and Louisiana for 1,200 miles before it empties 
into the Mississippi, was the great artery of com- 
merce, whereby food supplies were brought to the 
Southern armies. When Halleck's advance was 
stayed at Corinth, Van Dorn had used his men in 
creating elaborate fortifications, above and below 
the Red River, so as to protect this line of com- 
munication. About thirty miles below the mouth 
of the Red River was Port Hudson, which had now 
become a fortified post of considerable importance. 
But one hundred miles above its mouth, nature had 
united with the highest engineering skill which the 
Confederates could command, to make a defense 
which at first view seemed impregnable. 

Vicksburg was situated on a line of bluffs, some 
two hundred feet high, on one of the many bends of 
the Mississippi River, about two hundred miles 
south of Memphis in a straight line, but double that 
distance by the many twists and loops of the river. 
The elevation which parallels the Mississippi on its 



VICKSBUEG 161 

east bank from Columbus to Memphis leaves the 
river at the latter poiiit and goes inland, rejoining 
the river again at Vicksburg, and thence the high 
ground continues to Port Hudson. Some miles 
north of Vicksburg is the mouth of the Yazoo 
River, which runs its tangled course northward, 
generally at the foot of the line of bluffs. Between 
the Yazoo and the Mississippi is an area about two 
hundred miles long and sixty in width, of flat low 
land, pierced with rivers, bayous, and swamps, sub- 
ject to overflow in fluctuations of tide and season, 
and altogether impenetrable to invasion. The Con- 
federates had fortified the line of bluffs northward 
from Vicksburg, the leading centre being at Haines' 
Bluff, about twelve miles from the city. South from 
Vicksburg, they had similarly fortified Warrenton 
aud Grand Gulf, twenty-five miles below. Such 
then was the sceue of the next campaign. The 
cauuon on the heights of Vicksburg commanded the 
commerce of the Mississippi, and protected the 
traffic of the Bed Biver, and the flat land north of 
the city was nature's veto to an invading army. 

Nor were the Confederates slow in rallying to the 
defense of this indispensable post. After the battle 
of Corinth, Van Dorn had been relieved, and 
Lieutenant-General John C. Pemberton was placed in 
charge of the defense. He was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, but had come under the influence of Jeffer- 
son Davis in his army service, and was highly 
esteemed by his chief. Pemberton was given about 
50,000 men to hold the line of the Mississippi, ex- 



162 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

tending from Port Hudson to Haines' Bluff, and then 
back to Jackson, the capital of the state, forty miles 
east from Vicksburg. As Grant's plans developed 
and the menace of his forces was more clearly 
recognized, reinforcements were sent to Pemberton 
from Bragg, and General Joseph E. Johnston, of 
whom Grant afterward said that he gave him more 
anxiety than any other Confederate general, was 
placed in charge of both Bragg and Pemberton, so 
as to promote unity in operations. 

Two early attempts had been made upon Vicks- 
burg in 1862, neither of which resulted in any de- 
gree of success. In May, after the taking of New 
Orleans, Farragut came up the river, with some of 
his fleet, and a small land force under General "Will- 
iams. After a careful reconnaissance, they de- 
manded the surrender of Vicksburg, but when it was 
refused, they had not the force for a successful attack. 
So after a bombardment the fleet withdrew. Next 
month Farragut returned, this time with mortar- 
boats, escorting General Williams with a force of 
3,200 men. Williams lauded his men on the west 
bank, and started a canal through the neck of land 
opposite Vicksburg. Meanwhile, Farragut bom- 
barded the forts, and eventually led his fleet up the 
river, past the batteries. It was then that he wrote 
to Halleck, asking for 15,000 men to take the city, 
but the latter had already commenced the dispersion 
of the graud army at Corinth, and hence refused the 
request. A few weeks later, Davis led his fleet, 
recently victorious at Memphis, down the river and 



VICKSBURG 163 

joined Farragut, and both squadrons now threatened 
the city. But the bluffs of the " lofty hill-city," as 
Mark Twain called Vicksburg, were impregnable to 
a gunboat attack, and when the river began to fall, 
Farragut returned to the South, and Davis could 
only maintain a blockade of the river north of the 
Vicksburg batteries. In the autumn of 1862 Van 
Dora extended and strengthened the fortifications, 
so that instead of the twenty-six guns which Will- 
iams encountered, there were one hundred and 
seventy-two when Grant entered the city ! 

By November, 1862, Grant was in sufficient force 
to undertake an offensive campaign, and the proper 
line of advance was now the question. Up to this 
time the Mississippi had been opened, through a 
combination of the gunboats operating on the river, 
and a parallel advance of the army, marching in 
the interior, and compelling the abandonment of 
various posts on the river, as they were successively 
outflanked. The success of this method naturally 
suggested to Grant an advance into the interior of 
Mississippi, which would compel the abandonment 
of the great fortifications on the river. Such an ad- 
vance required, however, large quantities of supplies 
for his army, and he could no longer use the Ten- 
nessee Eiver for this purpose. He was obliged, 
therefore, to guard the railroads from Memphis and 
Corinth to the front, and to accumulate supplies at 
various posts in the rear. John Fiske has estimated 
that an army of 50,000 men, three days from its base 
of supplies, would require 1,900 wagons, drawn by 



164 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

11,000 animals, each day's march moving from the 
base, of course, increasing the requirements. Grant 
would probably have preferred to have abandoned 
Corinth, and to draw his supplies from Memphis, 
rather than on the longer line from Columbus to 
Corinth, but Halleck would not agree, so in prepar- 
ing for an advance large forces were left on garrison 
duty in the rear. 

While Grant, with 40,000 men, was to advance on 
the interior, Sherman, with about 30, 000, taken from 
Memphis and Helena, was to proceed down the 
Mississippi, and attack Vicksburg in front. Al- 
though this plan involved a division of the army, 
which with an enterprising foe might have resulted 
in disaster, it had a possibility of success. Grant 
hoped, by his direct attack, to keep Pemberton's 
army engaged in the interior, so that Sherman's ad- 
vance might have the advantage of surprise, and 
find Vicksburg bereft of defenders. By the middle 
of December, Grant had advanced to Oxford, about 
one-fourth of the way to Jackson, but meanwhile 
the foe was concentrating against him. Bragg sent 
his cavalry, under Forrest, over the Tennessee 
Biver to cut the railroad between Corinth and 
Columbus, and that dashing commander succeeded 
admirably. Meanwhile Van Dorn, with 3,500 of 
Pemberton's cavalry, advanced against Grant's com- 
munications, and on December 20th seized Holly 
Springs, destroying practically all of the stores there. 
This unexpected reverse severed Grant's line of 
communications, and he at once ordered a retreat, 



VICKSBURG 165 

during which his men subsisted by foraging on the 
country. By January 8th he was again in touch 
with Memphis, and learning that Sherman had been 
defeated, he ordered his army to the river, intend- 
ing to make his next advance from that direction. 

Meanwhile, Sherman had taken his men down the 
Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo ; thence sail- 
ing up that tortuous stream, he landed at Chickasaw 
bayou, on the low land in front of the line of bluffs. 
After a careful examination of the ground north 
from Vicksburg to Haines' Bluff, Sherman deter- 
mined to attack about five miles north of the city 
in the centre of an elevation known as Walnut 
Hills, or Chickasaw Bluffs. On the high ground 
were the rifle-pits and artillery of the Confederates. 
Below, there was a succession of streams and marshes, 
only passable along certain clearly-defined paths. 
It would be impossible to conceive of a more diffi- 
cult place for an assault, for although Sherman had 
a marked superiority in numbers, he had no oppor- 
tunity to use it. On December 29th Sherman as- 
saulted, and although his men showed their usual 
gallantry, the loss of nearly two thousand in killed 
and wounded without effecting a lodgment on the 
bluffs showed the strength of the enemy's position. 
At this time Sherman had not heard of Grant's re- 
treat, and yet his men could see that train loads of 
reinforcements were being hurried to Vicksburg. 
Convinced that there was no chance of a successful 
surprise, and threatened with flood on the low 
ground by the heavy rains, Sherman retired to the 



166 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

mouth of the Yazoo, where he was joined by Mc- 
Clernand, who now took charge of the expedition. 

During the autumn of 1862 Grant's plans were 
seriously affected by the anomalous position of Gen- 
eral McClernand, who had served under him during 
several of his earlier campaigns. This ambitious 
leader, while not a West Pointer, had shown some 
aptitude for military work. Lincoln ax^preciated 
his services with special good-will because, al- 
though a Democrat, McClernand had thrown himself 
with ardent loyalty into the war for the Union. In 
1862 he had visited Washington, and received con- 
fidential orders to enlist soldiers in the northwest 
for an expedition to open the Mississippi, under his 
own command. Halleck never wavered in his pur- 
pose that McClernand was to serve under Grant, but 
McClernand himself hoped and expected to receive 
an independent command. Orders were sent to 
Grant to place McClernand in command of the 
Mississippi expedition, but Sherman started before 
these orders could be communicated to him, and it 
was only after the battle that McClernand overtook 
him. Sherman, now learning for the first time of 
Grant's retirement to Memphis, suggested that his 
force should be utilized in an attack upou Arkansas 
Post, a stroug fort forty miles up the Arkansas 
River, which could be made the base of flank at- 
tacks upon any army operating against Vicksburg. 
McClernand approved of the idea, and on January 
9th the fort was invested, and two days later sur- 
rendered with over 5,000 prisoners. McClernand 



VICKSBUKG 167 

then planned an Arkansas campaign, but Grant had 
now arrived in Memphis in supreme command, and 
was not willing that the best portion of his army- 
should be drafted off in what he called a " wild- 
goose chase." So McClernaud and Sherman were 
ordered back to Milliken's Bend, where on January 
301 h Grant assumed personal charge. 

Meanwhile, the plan of campaign was changed. 
Reorganizing his army into four corps, Grant left the 
Sixteenth Corps, under Hurlburt, at Memphis to pro- 
tect western Tennessee, and ordered McPherson, with 
the Seventeenth Corps, down the river to join Mc- 
Clernaud and Sherman, who were henceforth to com- 
mand the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Corps respect- 
ively. Now commenced the real siege of Vicksbnrg, 
the problem being to effect a lodgment on the high 
ground east of the line of bluffs. It is difficult to 
describe the operations of the next three months, for 
it was a warfare with nature, in which the enemy 
played little part. Several lines of approach were 
carried on at the same time by different parts of 
the command. First, it was decided to finish 
Williams' canal, across the neck of laud west of 
Vicksburg, so that the fleet could pass below the 
batteries. But when the river rose with the spring 
rains, it flooded not only the canal, but all the low 
ground surrounding it, driving the soldiers for pro- 
tection to the levee. In addition, it was soon evi- 
dent that the southern end of the canal would be 
commanded by the Confederate guns at Warrenton, 
— so this plan was abandoned. 



168 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

A second project was also attempted on the west 
bank of the river, to unite Lake Providence, seventy 
miles above Vicksburg, with a series of bayous, 
leading eventually into the Red River, one hundred 
miles below, so as to make an involved route of four 
hundred miles, whereby supplies might be carried 
by boat to an army operating below Vicksburg. 
This plan necessitated cutting a channel through 
swamps, digging up stumps and breaking levees, 
and was so complicated that eventually it was 
abandoned as impracticable. 

Meanwhile, on the east side of the Mississippi, an 
equally difficult experiment was attempted. Below 
Helena, the Cold water River, one of the branches of 
the Yazoo, came within a few miles of the Missis- 
sippi, and if a connection could be established, the 
gunboats could get into the Yazoo, and land an 
army on the high ground above Haines' Bluff. To 
this end, the levee at Yazoo Pass was broken, and 
eventually the gunboats came down the Coldwater 
to the Tallahatchie, but near where the latter stream 
unites with the Yallabusha to form the Yazoo, the 
Confederates had constructed a strong earthwork, 
Fort Pemberton, impregnable against gunboat at- 
tack, and too well surrounded by water to permit 
of an assault. So the Yazoo Pass expedition re- 
turned. 

The last attempt from the North was developed in 
March, when Porter and Sherman went up Steele's 
Bayou north of Millikeu's Bend, intent on finding a 
channel to the Big Suuflower River, which empties 



VICKSBUKG 1G9 

iu to the Yazoo, below Fort Pembertou but above 
Haines' Bluff, thus affording au opportunity to 
pierce the line of bluffs without a direct assault. 
But the vigilant foe blocked the narrow channel, 
and the gunboats, unable to turn around, were 
obliged to back out of the bayou, with rudders un- 
shipped. 

These successive failures were very dispiriting to 
the North. It was the dark period after the bloody 
repulse at Fredericksburg, and there was little good 
news from the frout. It was the time when Halleck 
sent to his three leading generals in the front the 
message that there was a vacant major- general ship 
in the regular army which he would give to the first 
one to win a decisive victory. Moreover, the war 
correspondents with the army could not understand 
the strategy of the campaign, and some wrote home 
dispatches which were neither just nor intelligent. 
One noted newspaper man, trying to forward Mc- 
Clernand's ambitions, wrote to Secretary Chase, — 
" Our noble army of the Mississippi is being wasted 
by the foolish, drunken, stupid Grant. He can't 
organize or control or fight an army. I have no 
personal feeling about it, but I know he is an ass." 
It was at this time that Lincoln answered those who 
accused Grant of intemperance with the famous re- 
tort, — "If I knew what brand of whiskey he 
\\ drinks, I would send a barrel to some other gen- 
erals." Because of these doubts and suspicions, 
Stanton sent Charles A. Dana, then a special agent 
of the War Department, to the army before Vicks- 



170 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

burg, so that the government might receive trust- 
worthy accounts of its real movements. 

Too much publicity is no aid to generalship, and 
the American people have had frequent illustrations 
of this truth. Thus, once a correspondent was wel- 
comed in a gunboat, and shown every courtesy in 
examining its defenses ; later, in his article, he de- 
scribed the best methods of attacking and sinking 
the boat ! Again, Grant ordered a special battery 
to be planted near Vicksburg, his men working at 
night to preserve secrecy. Two days before the 
gnus were to be used, a Confederate officer, meeting 
Sherman under a flag of truce, laughingly referred 
to this battery, and it was found that the whole story 
had been published in a Memphis newspaper several 
days before. Of course, whatever appeared in the 
Northern press was soon forwarded to the South, 
and the result was discouraging. Sherman's com- 
ment is interesting. "All persons who don't have 
to fight must be kept out of camp, else secrecy 
. . . is an impossibility." 

Despite the clamors and the failures, Grant was 
formulating a new plan, so daring in conception 
that even his chosen confidant, Sherman, protested. 
He had determined to have the gunboats run past 
the Confederate batteries, escorting sufficient sup- 
plies for a short campaign ; then he would lead his 
army below Vicksburg on the west side, cross the 
river and penetrate into the interior, in the midst of 
his opponents. Sherman felt that this plan was im- 
possible, — it imperiled communications, and an 



VICKSBUEG 171 

army cut off from its base of supplies might be 
forced to surrender. The proper plau would have 
been to return to Memphis, and to come down the 
line of the railroad, as Grant had first attempted. 
But Grant clearly recognized that public opinion 
would style such a movement as a retreat, and in 
the then discouraged condition of sentiment, any 
reverse might be disastrous to the cause. 

With the zealous cooperation of Porter, some of 
the gunboats, together with transports, passed the 
batteries on the night of April 16th. At the same 
time, McClernand's and McPherson's corps were or- 
dered to New Carthage, and eventually to Perkins' 
Plantation, and Hard Times, opposite Grand Gulf, 
below Vicksburg on the west side. To prevent the 
concentration of Confederates in Grant's front, Sher- 
man was ordered to make a feint at Haines' Bluff, 
north of the city. Grant planned this feint with 
genuine reluctance, fearing lest the correspondents 
would report that Sherman was again defeated, but 
that fiery soldier told him to make his own plans 
"and let the people mind their own business." At 
the same time, a cavalry raid was organized by 
Hurlburt, which was one of the most successful op- 
erations of the war. General B. H. Grierson, with 
1,700 men, started from La Grange on April 17th, 
and destroying railroads and telegraph wires, burn- 
ing factories, stores and bridges, he brought his men 
to Baton Eouge on May 2d, having spread confusion 
and dismay throughout the entire state of Missis- 
sippi. It was unfortunate for Pemberton that the 



172 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

cavalry of his department was then with Bragg, 
and Van Dorn having been killed, he was without 
proper information as to the movements of the 
enemy. 

Grant's plan was carried out with complete suc- 
cess in every detail. Sherman manipulated ten 
regiments before Haines' Bluff with so much adroit- 
ness that Pemberton concentrated to oppose what he 
was certain was the main attack. Meanwhile, Grant, 
having brought his main army to Hard Times, op- 
posite Grand Gulf, twenty-five miles below Vicks- 
burg, although seventy miles by the river, ordered 
the gunboats to attack Grand Gulf, hoping to force 
a surrender which would give him a landing on the 
east side. On April 29th Porter opened a vigor- 
ous attack on the batteries at Grand Gulf, but after 
several hours it was apparent that the gunboats 
could not silence works at an elevation of two hun- 
dred feet. Blocked, but not dismayed, Grant, who 
had 10,000 men on transports during the attack, 
ready to cross at the first favorable moment, disem- 
barked his men and marched them across a narrow 
peninsula to the south. Here an intelligent negro 
was found, who told him that from Bruinsberg, six 
miles below Grand Gulf on the east side, there was 
a good road to Port Gibson, twelve miles away, the 
terminus of the railroad from Grand Gulf. On 
April 30th he hurried the Thirteenth Corps across 
the great river, and found Bruinsberg unoccupied. 
With three days' rations, the men were started at 
once on the road to Port Gibson, and reached in 



VICKSBURG 173 

safety the high ground. It was an hour after mid- 
night before McCleruand found the enemy, posted 
four miles west of Port Gibson, and consisting of 
8,000 men, under General Bo wen, withdrawn from 
the garrison of Grand Gulf. 

On May 1st was fought the first battle of the 
campaign, when Grant, with McCleruand' s Corps, 
and part of McPhersou's, attacked the Confederate 
lines at Port Gibson, and having an overwhelming 
superiority in numbers, forced a speedy retreat. 
Bowen retreated to Grand Gulf, and then fearing 
complete investment, abandoned his post, crossed 
the Big Black River, and fled north toward Vicks- 
burg. On May 3d the gunboats took possession of 
Grand Gulf, and Grant, with an escort of twenty 
men, rode into the town and resumed communica- 
tions with the rest of his forces. He had success- 
fully planted his army on the high ground east of 
the river, and had thus circumvented nature's ob- 
stacles. 

During the next few days he displayed a vigor and 
a command of the situation that were remarkable. 
The rest of the Seventeenth Corps was brought 
over the Mississippi ; Sherman was ordered to aban- 
don his attack on Haines' Bluff, which had served 
its purpose, and to bring his men down the river ; 
ammunition wagons were fitted up, and supplies 
distributed. Grant had now reached the critical 
point of the campaign. Until this time he had in- 
tended to take Grand Gulf for a base of supplies, 
and then to send a corps south to aid Banks in taking 



174 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Port Hudson. Then with these combined forces 
he could make an overwhelming attack upon Vicks- 
burg. But he received word from Banks that his 
forces would not be ready to attack Port Hudson 
before May 10th, and that he had only 15,000 men. 
To wait a week would give Pemberton ample op- 
portunity to recover from the surprise, and Grant 
at once decided to push into the interior with his 
three corps, sever all communication with the fleet, 
and live off of the country. By May 7th his army 
was concentrated on the east side of the river, and 
with 45,000 men he started his march into the in- 
terior. 

With his left wing near the Big Black Biver, 
Grant aimed his army toward the railroad from 
Vicksburg to Jackson. After five days of march- 
ing, McPherson, who was then on the right, found 
a Confederate division at Raymond. After a brisk 
battle, the Confederates fled toward Jackson, about 
eighteen miles to the northwest. Instantly Grant 
recognized his opportunity. If part of his foes re- 
tired toward Vicksburg, and another part toward 
Jackson, there was an opportunity for him to place 
his army in between, and fight them separately. 
Meanwhile Johnston had arrived at Jackson, and 
when the discouraging news of Grant's progress was 
given to him, he at once wired to Richmond, " I am 
too late." Pemberton, with approximately 40,000 
men, was holding the line of the Big Black and 
Vicksburg, and Johnston had about 12,000 men at 
Jackson, but Grant, with 45,000, was in between, 



VICKSBURG 175 

and prepared to push his advantage to the utmost. 
On May 14th, MePherson attacked Jackson, and 
Johnston's weak divisions were overwhelmed. 
That night the Union forces were in possession of 
the capital of Mississippi, and Grant slept in the 
same house which Johnston had occupied the night 
before. Leaving Sherman to destroy the bridges, 
railroads and factories around Jackson, Grant hur- 
ried MePherson to the west to join McClernand in 
a search for Pemberton. 

In his hasty retreat from Jackson, Johnston 
ordered Pemberton to abandon Vicksburg, and to 
bring his army North for a junction, so that their 
united forces might face Grant. But Pemberton, 
full of the importance of Vicksburg, instead marched 
south, intent upon cutting Grant's line of communi- 
cations. He could not accomplish this, for Grant's 
men were subsisting from the country, but he lost 
valuable time, aud when he finally turned north, 
Grant was ready for him. The decisive battle of 
the campaign was fought at Champion's Hill, where 
the railroad crosses Baker's Creek, about twenty 
miles west of Jackson. Here Pemberton took a 
strong position with 25,000 men, the rest of his 
forces holding the Vicksburg line. Without wait- 
ing for Sherman, who had been ordered up from 
Jackson, Grant determined to attack on May 16th, 
with only MePherson' s and McClernand' s Corps. 

The Battle of Champion's Hill was fought with 
nearly equal forces. On the right, Grant took per- 
sonal charge of the divisions of Hovey, Logan and 



176 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Crocker, and after hard fighting, succeeded in turn- 
ing the enemy's position, and even for a time con- 
trolled their line of retreat. On the left, McClernand 
was slow in getting his men into the battle, and as a 
result, while Pemberton's army was routed, it was 
not destroyed. Retreating in wild haste, leaving 
2,500 prisoners and twenty-four pieces of artillery, 
Pemberton fled to the Big Black River, where he 
had extensive fortifications. One of his strongest 
divisions, under Loring, became separated from the 
main body, and fled to the south. Eventually, after 
a wide detour, it united with Johnston's forces, and 
so escaped capture. 

Meanwhile Grant, with his army reunited, pushed 
on to the Big Black, where Pemberton had brought 
up reinforcements from Vicksburg. There was 
scarcely a battle, for Pemberton's men were 
demoralized, and were fighting with a river in their 
rear. When, on May 17th, they saw the prepara- 
tions for outflanking their position, the Confederates 
fled, and Grant drove them across the river, with a 
loss of 1,700 prisoners. The crossing of the Big 
Black caused but a few hours' delay. Pemberton 
was in no condition to resist, and calling in his out- 
lying garrisons, determined to retreat to the fortifi- 
cations of Vicksburg. Haines' Bluff was abandoned, 
and the line of the Yazoo given over to Federal con- 
trol. On the afternoon of May 18th, Grant and 
Sherman rode out on the Chickasaw Bluffs, where, 
less than five months before, the latter had suffered 
a bloody repul se. ' ' This is a campaign, ' ' exclaimed 



VICKSBURG 177 

Sherman enthusiastically. "Until this moment, I 
n&ver thought your movement a success. But this 
is a success, even if we never take the town." 

It was well-merited praise. Eighteen days had 
elapsed since Grant had landed at Bruinsberg. In 
that time he had marched over two hundred miles, 
fought and won five pitched battles, taken 8,000 
prisoners and eighty-eight cannon, and had scat- 
tered a foe who had all of the advantages of number, 
position, supplies and knowledge of the ground. It 
was the best-conducted campaign of the war. 
Moreover, the credit belonged to Grant alone. 
Sherman had protested agaiust the plan. Halleck 
had ordered him to go down to Port Hudson,— 
orders which fortunately were not delivered until 
after the opening victories had brought success 
within grasp. No one else had the daring to com- 
mend the bold design of cutting loose from com- 
munications, so as to use all of his army in fighting 
the foe. In many ways it was the crowning mo- 
ment of Grant's career. 

But Vicksburg had not yet surrendered. By May 
18th Pemberton had all of his forces within its for- 
tifications, and although demoralized by successive 
defeats, he had still more than 30,000 men, mostly 
veterans, who knew the advantages of their position. 
Daring the night the Union forces took positions 
outside the city,— Sherman on the north, McClernand 
on the south and McPherson in the centre. The 
line was too long for Grant's army, and there was a 
gap of four miles between McClernand and the 



178 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

river, through which Pemberton might have at- 
tempted an escape if his men had been equal to the 
effort. On the afternoon of May 19th, Grant 
ordered an assault, in which Sherman's men ad- 
vanced to the ditch outside the fortifications, but 
little was accomplished except to disclose the 
strength of a position which bristled with batteries 
aud fortified works. 

After three days' quiet, Grant determined to try 
another assault. His men were confident, the foe 
were dispirited, and he felt that his soldiers would 
not willingly submit to the slow and laborious re- 
quirements of a siege, when they felt that an in- 
stant victory was possible. Moreover, Johnston 
was now gathering an army to relieve Vicksburg, 
and it was a question how serious this effort might 
be. On May 22d, therefore, the assault was ordered 
all along the line. In spite of the vigor and bravery 
of the assailants, the result was a complete defeat. 
The Union soldiers would run to the ditch and, in 
some cases, succeeded in planting their flags on the 
parapets, but the fire of the enemy, most of whom 
fought from complete cover, simply annihilated the 
attacking columns. After the first reverse, Grant, 
who was on the right and centre of his line, received 
word from McClernand that he had taken parts of 
two forts, and requesting that a vigorous attack be 
maintained so as to prevent the enemy from massing 
in front of his position. For this reason a second 
assault was ordered in the early afternoon, and with 
exactly the same result. Vicksburg could not be 



VICKSBUEG 179 

taken by an assault, and Grant was much disap- 
pointed to learn that McClernand's over-sanguine 
temperament had misled him in the report which 
caused the second charge. 

After the second assault, the army settled down 
to the slow processes of a siege. As the tidings of 
the successful campaign reached home, every effort 
was made to hurry reinforcements to the front. It 
was thoroughly appreciated that Johnston would be 
reinforced, so as to give him a relieving army, 
and Halleck ordered Banks, Schofield, Eosecrans 
and Burnside to send all extra soldiers to Grant. 
Banks was now besieging Port Hudson, and Eose- 
crans had started on his campaign for Chattanooga, 
but Burnside and Schofield responded willingly, and 
by the middle of June Grant had over 70,000 men. 
His first reinforcements were used to complete the 
line of investment, and, as others arrived, they were 
hurried to Haines' Bluff and the line of the Big 
Black, where under Sherman's immediate direction 
they formed a protecting army, ready for Johnston's 
advance. But with all his efforts, Johnston could 
only collect 25,000 men, and while he made many 
cautious moves in the direction of Vicksburg, the 
Union forces were too strong to justify a successful 
attack. 

Meanwhile, Grant had relieved McClernand from 
command, and Ord had taken his place. This ac- 
tion precipitated a long and acute controversy. In 
the earlier campaigns of Fort Donelson and Shiloh 
McClernand had won the reputation of a good 



180 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

fighter and had been highly praised by Grant. But 
when the Mississippi expedition was started, he had 
expected the command, and his disappointment re- 
sulted in insubordination. Grant was slow in reach- 
ing a decision against his senior general. He knew 
that McClernand had recommended to Stanton to 

appoint his ancient enemy, Captain K , who had 

preferred charges against him at Cairo, in charge of 
the river transportation. He knew that when in 
January he had assumed personal charge of the 
army, that McClernand had bitterly protested to 
Stanton. But it was during the campaign that Mc- 
Clernand's actions finally convinced his chief that 
there was an unpleasant duty to be performed. 
Thus, in crossing the Mississippi, McClernand de- 
layed at a critical time, which might have involved 
the whole campaign. Again, at Champion's Hill, 
he was slow in coming to the attack. When the 
siege had commenced, he did not push the lines of 
investment with anything like the vigor of the 
others. Indeed, Dana reported to Stanton: — "My 
own judgment is that McClernand has not the quali- 
fications necessary for a good commander even of a 
regiment." Stanton replied that Grant had full 
authority to command his army, and would be held 
accountable for the use of that power. 

The climax came when, after the assault on May 
22d, McClernand published a congratulatory order 
to his soldiers, in which he extolled their prowess 
in bombastic language, and referred slightingly to 
the achievements of the other corps. The order was 



VICKSBURG 181 

published in a St. Louis newspaper, and thus was 
brought to the attention of Sherman and McPherson, 
who instantly complained to Grant. This matter 
was too serious to be ignored, and Grant had good 
reason to believe that any accident to himself would 
place at the head of his army one in whom none of 
the other generals had confidence. As a result, 
McClernand was ordered back to Cairo, and thence- 
forth disappears from the story of Grant's career. 

It was fortunate for Grant that, during the excit- 
ing weeks of the campaign and the patient endur- 
ance of the siege, he had Dana at his side as the di- 
rect representative of the War Department. Grant 
was never fond of writing long dispatches describing 
his work, but Dana relieved him of this task in 
large measure ; and by his discriminating praise 
and sympathetic insight, he gave Lincoln and Stan- 
ton their first clear conception of their Western com- 
mander. Dana was much impressed with the hearty 
friendship and cooperation which existed between 
Grant, Sherman and McPherson — three sons of 
Ohio, who had scarcely known each other before the 
war, whose patriotic support of each other's plans 
was in pleasing contrast with the jealousies of some 
of the Eastern armies. 

During the prosecution of the siege the life at the 
headquarters was interesting and pleasant. Con- 
fident of eventual success and with increasing 
resources, Grant could afford to take a little enjoy- 
ment in life. His oldest son, Fred, then a boy of 
thirteen, had been with him since the battle of Port 



182 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

Gibson and was a deserved favorite at the head- 
quarters. Some of the members of his staff, who 
had been appointed from motives of personal friend- 
ship, were of little use, but every visitor to the camp 
was impressed with the loyalty and devotion of 
Eawlins and the zeal with which he watched over the 
interests of his chief. Grant had issued orders that 
no beer or ale should be sold within sixty miles of the 
camp. By the advice of his surgeons, this order 
was relaxed in favor of the men who were digging 
saps and traverses, to whom, in the heated weather 
of June, iced ale was served in the trenches. There 
were many visitors from the North curious to see 
the operations of a siege at close range, and some- 
times wine was smuggled through the lines for their 
entertainment. Eawlins found some of this wine 
near Grant's headquarters, and at once had the 
officer who brought it transferred to another branch 
of the service. The letter which he wrote Grant at 
this time is one of the most impressive contributions 
to the personal literature of the war, and is affecting 
testimony to the loyalty of the writer and the friend- 
ship of the recipient. 1 There is overwhelming evi- 

1 General Rawlins to General Grant 

Before Vicksburg, Bliss., June 6, 1863. 
1 o'clock A. M. 
Dear General : — 

The great solicitude I feel for the safety of this army leads 
me to mention what I hoped never again to do — the subject of 
your drinking. This may surprise you, for I may be (and I 
trust I am) doing you an injustice by unfounded suspicions ; 
but if an error, it better be on the side of this country's safety 
than in fear of offending a friend. I am told that Dr. 
McMillau, at General Sherman's a few days ago, induced you, 



VICKSBUEG 183 

dence that Eawlins's suspicion, as expressed in this 
letter, was unfounded, but the strength and beauty 
of the friendship which could stand such a strain is 
most admirable. 
Through June, the investment of Vicksburg was 

notwithstanding your pledge to me, to take a glass of wine, and 
to-day, when I found a box of wine in front of your tent and 
proposed to move it, which I did, I was told you had forbid it 
being taken away, for you intended to keep it until you entered 
Vicksburg, that you might have it for your friends ; and to- 
night, when yon should, because of the condition of your 
health if nothing else, have been in bed, I find you where the 
wine bottle has just been emptied, in company with those who 
driuk and urge you to do likewise, and the lack of your usual 
promptness of decision and clearness in expressing yourself in 
writing tended to confirm my suspicions. 

You have full control of your appetite and can let drinking 
aloue. Had you not pledged me the sincerity of your honor 
early in March that you would drink no more during the war, 
and kept that pledge during your recent campaign, you would 
not to-day have stood first in the world's history as a successful 
military leader. Your only salvation depends upon your strict 
adherence to that pledge. You cannot succeed in any other 
way. As I have before stated, I may be wrong in my suspicions, 
but if one sees that which leads him to suppose a sentinel is fall- 
ing asleep on his post, it is his duty to arouse him ; and if one 
sees that which leads him to fear the General commanding a 
great army is being seduced to that step which he knows will 
bring disgrace upon that General and defeat to his command, if 
he fails to sound the proper note of warning, the friends, wives 
and children of those brave men whose lives he permits to re- 
main thus imperiled will accuse him while he lives, and stand 
swift witnesses of wrath against him in the day when all shall 
be tried. If my suspicions are unfounded, let my friendship 
for you and my zeal for my country be my excuse for this let- 
ter; and if they are correctly founded, and you determine not to 
heed the admonitions and the prayers of this hasty note by im- 
mediately ceasing to touch a single drop of any kind of liquor, 
no matter by whom asked, or under what circumstances, let 
my immediate relief from duty in this department be the result. 

I am, General, your friend, 

John A. Rawlins. 



184 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

complete. The gunboats blocked all supplies from 
the river and the army closed every channel of com- 
munication by land. On June 7th a diversion was 
attempted from Arkansas, when a division of Con- 
federates attacked Millikeu's Bend which was then 
defended by negro troops, the first to be enlisted in 
the West. Their gallant and successful defense of 
this important post did much to popularize the en- 
listment of negroes and caused a rapid change in 
sentiment toward the contraband on the part of 
those who had previously sneered at this policy. 
Meanwhile, Grant had placed eighty-nine batteries 
iu position with 220 guns, and had developed ten 
lines of approach to within a few yards of the 
enemy's works. So close were the soldiers that a 
curious camaraderie developed between the Johnnies 
' and the Yanks, and it is even related that some of 
the sappers exchanged coffee for tobacco and shared 
iced ale with their euemy. Grant had planned an 
assault for July 6th, and there could be little doubt 
of his success considering the advanced condition of 
his lines. 

As the siege progressed, inside Vicksburg the 
conviction was growing that surrender was inevi- 
table. The inhabitants had honeycombed the bluff 
with caves for protection against the shells. Food 
was scarce, although the city was so well-stored 
with supplies that famine could have been averted 
for several weeks. Flour sold at ten dollars a pound 
and bacon at five dollars, and even mule-meat was 
in demand, but it was the discouragement of the 



VICKSBURG 185 

soldiers which forced the surrender. On June 28th 
Pemberton received a petition signed " many 
soldiers," which stated, " Men don't want to starve 
and don't intend to, but they call upon you for jus- 
tice. ... If you can't feed us, you had better 
surrender us, horrible as the idea is, than suffer this 
noble army to disgrace themselves by desertion." 
With this paper before him, Pemberton called his 
division commanders in council and asked if the 
troops were able to cut themselves a way through 
the enemy's lines. The opinion of the subordinate 
commanders was almost unanimous against this 
idea, and after the meeting on July 3d, Pemberton 
sent a flag of truce to Grant proposing that commis- 
sioners be appointed to arrange terms of capitula- 
tion. Grant replied, refusing this proposition and 
stating that the only terms were unconditional sur- 
render, but adding that ' ' Men who have shown so 
much endurance and courage as those now in Vicks- 
burg will always challenge the respect of an adver- 
sary and . . . will be treated with all the re- 
spect due prisoners of war. ' ' On the afternoon of the 
same day Grant met Pemberton between the lines, 
and after a few minutes' conference, Pemberton 
haughtily refused unconditional surrender and de- 
manded that his men be allowed to march out with 
their arms and equipment. The conference was a 
failure, but Grant promised to write out his terms, 
and later forwarded a letter to Pemberton offering 
to parole the conquered army. After some further 
correspondence the terms were accepted. At ten 



186 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

o'clock on the morning of that Independence Day, 
which a thousand miles away found Meade's vic- 
torious army facing Lee's defeated forces at Gettys- 
burg, Logan's division entered Vicksburg and the 
ragged regiments of Pemberton, stacking their arms, 
marched out from the stronghold which they had de- 
fended so valiantly. 

One episode of the surrender illustrates Grant's 
habitual magnanimity to a defeated foe. Upon 
entering Vicksburg, he went with his staff to call 
on Pemberton. At the headquarters he was re- 
ceived with marked rudeness, and upon his request- 
ing a glass of water, he was directed to the rear of 
the house, where he could help himself from the 
well. The next day Dana wired Stanton, "Grant 
entered the city at eleven o'clock and was received 
by Pemberton with more marked impertinence than 
at their former interview. He bore it like a 
philosopher and in reply treated Pemberton with 
even greater courtesy and dignity than before." 
After all, adversity is a sterner test of character 
than success. 

With the taking of Vicksburg there were sur- 
rendered about 31,000 men, and 172 pieces of ar- 
tillery. 1 It was the largest force of armed men ever 
taken in the history of the war, and was a far 
stronger army than Grant had anticipated. He had 
been brought to propose paroling the prisoners by 
the difficulty of conveying to the North so large a 

1 The total of Union losses from May 1st to July 4th were as 
follows : Killed, 1,514 ; wounded, 7,395 ; missing, 453. 



VICKSBUEG 187 

number, and by his belief that most of them were 
discouraged with fighting, and were perfectly will- 
ing again to become peaceful citizens of the Union. 
Some of those paroled afterward appeared in Bragg's 
army without having been properly exchanged, and 
this experience made Grant a strong opponent of 
any exchanges in the later stages of the war. 

While the surrender was taking place, Sherman, 
on the line of the Big Black, was watching Johns- 
ton's cautious advance. As soon as the Federal 
soldiers were in Vicksburg, Grant ordered several 
divisions to join Sherman, so as to give the latter 
48,000 men. On the afternoon of July 4th, Sher- 
man gave the order to march, and in five days his 
men were again outside of Jackson. Johnston had 
retreated with equal celerity, but he made a stand 
at Jackson, where he had ample forces now to man 
the fortifications. Sherman made preparations for 
a siege, but Johnston, who had not sufficient sup- 
plies, on July 16th abandoned Jackson for the sec- 
ond time, and fled to the East. Under Grant's or- 
ders, Sherman destroyed the railroads around 
Jackson, and then returned to Vicksburg. 

The last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi 
was Port Hudson, which was held by General Frank 
Gardner with 6,000 men. After Grant's successful 
campaign around Jackson, Johnston ordered Gard- 
ner to bring his forces north, but before this order 
could be obeyed, Banks arrived with about 25,000 
men, and started a siege, which had many of the 
characteristics of that of Vicksburg. When Pern- 



188 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

berton surrendered, Grant at once sent word to 
Banks, offering overwhelming reinforcements, but 
this letter was forwarded to Gardner, who, recog- 
nizing the hopelessness of his position, agreed to 
surrender also. On July 9th the Confederate flag 
was replaced with that of the Union, and thus was 
justified Lincoln's picturesque phrase that "the 
Mississippi flows un vexed to the sea." One week 
later, the first commercial vessel from St. Louis 
docked at New Orleans, having traversed the river 
without the sight or sound of a foe. 

Such was the conclusion of the decisive campaign 
of the West. Halleck wrote to the victorious 
leader : "In boldness of plan, rapidity of execution, 
and brilliancy of routes, these operations will com- 
pare most favorably with those of Napoleon about 
Ulm. You and your army have well deserved the 
gratitude of your country, and it will be the boast 
of your children that their fathers were the heroic 
army which reopened the Mississippi Eiver." Lin- 
coln sent Grant a personal letter of congratulation, 
and at once nominated him as Major-General in the 
regular army. The outburst of enthusiasm, in- 
creased to a tremendous volume by the double vic- 
tories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, was felt in 
every Northern community, and Grant was now a 
national hero. 



CHAPTEE IX 

CHATTANOOGA 

To a weaker man, the capture of Vicksburg, after 
the long toil and burdensome responsibility of the 
eight months' campaign, would have suggested an 
opportunity for rest and enjoyment of the fruits of a 
victory which had electrified the whole nation. Not 
so with Grant. The white flag had scarcely ap- 
peared on the Vicksburg lines before the orders were 
delivered to Sherman which started him on the sec- 
ond campaign against Jackson. Long before Sher- 
man returned victorious, the next step was clear to 
his leader, whose plans were forming for an expedi- 
tion against Mobile, the largest city of Alabama, 
and the leading seaport of the Gulf coast. If the 
Army of the Tennessee, with the supreme confidence 
in its leader born of successive victories, could have 
been sent against Mobile, it would have been resist- 
less, and thus a sure base could have been secured 
for operation in the rear of Bragg's army, which 
was then defending the northern frontier of Ala- 
bama. 

Instead of this clear-cut and feasible plan, Halleck, 
under the pressure of political necessity, determined 
upon the dispersion of Grant's army, following the 
policy which had been pursued at Corinth with such 



190 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

signal lack of success. The Ninth Corps was re- 
turned to the Army of the Ohio, to be led by Burn- 
side into east Tennessee, for the protection of the 
loyal Unionists of the mountains, whose relief had 
long been one of Lincoln's dearly cherished ambi- 
tions. Other detachments were sent to the rein- 
forcement of Banks in Louisiana and Schofield in 
Missouri. The Thirteenth Corps was ordered west 
of the Mississippi to cooperate in a projected inva- 
sion of Texas, where a victory was strongly desired, 
in order to counterbalance the preliminary success 
of the French invasion of Mexico. As a result, 
Grant's army was depleted of its offensive strength, 
and his men were needed for the numerous garri- 
sons of his department. After Johnston's retreat, 
however, there was little aggressive strength left in 
the Confederacy in western Mississippi, and many 
of those who surrendered at Vicksburg took ad- 
vantage of the quiet to return to their homes and 
resume peaceful pursuits. During this period of 
calm, Grant made a visit to Cairo and Memphis, 
where he was banqueted by a host of admirers, and 
then later he went down to New Orleans to confer 
with Banks on the proposed Western expedition. 
While attending a review of Banks's army, he met 
with the most serious personal injury of the war. 
He had been provided with a spirited steed, which 
proved too much even for his experience. Taking 
fright at a steam whistle, the horse dashed into a 
carriage, and fell, crushing Grant's leg and hip. 
From the effects of this accident he was kept in bed 



CHATTANOOGA 191 

for three weeks, and ou crutches for two months, 
and it was in this disabled condition that he entered 
on his next campaign. 

Meanwhile, a crisis had arisen in the Army of 
the Cumberland, and Grant was summoned to a 
larger field of action. During the spring of 18G3, 
Eosecrans faced Bragg in southern Tennessee, but 
there was little aggression on either side. While 
Grant was besieging Vicksburg, Halleck continually 
urged Eosecrans to a forward movement, but the 
difficulty of carrying supplies over the railroad 
from Nashville, a line often broken by Confederate 
raiders, kept the Army of the Cumberland quiet. 
Moreover, Eosecrans was convinced that the proper 
strategy required him to threaten Bragg without 
attacking, pointing out that an advance on his part 
would probably send Bragg's army over to join 
Johnston, and so force the relief of Vicksburg. 
But in the closing days of the siege Eosecrans made 
ready to advance from his quarters at Murfreesboro. 
Bragg's army was before him in fortified lines 
at Shelbyville and Tullahoma, protecting Chatta- 
nooga, on the south bank of the Tennessee Eiver, 
which, from its unique location among the mountains, 
was the key to that region. 

On June 24th Eosecrans started his campaign, 
and so skilfully did he employ his superiority in 
forces that Bragg's lines were turned without a 
battle. Continuing his well-planned strategy, 
Eosecrans crossed the Tennessee west of Chatta- 
nooga, and covering his movement in the parallel 



192 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

mountain ranges south of the river, he brought two 
of his eorps around to the south, so as to threaten 
Bragg's communications. The Confederate army at 
once retired from Chattanooga, and on September 
9th Crittenden took possession of the much-desired 
goal. Rosecrans's success led to over-confidence, 
and he now scattered his men in pursuit of the 
enemy, anticipating a victory without a battle. 
But meanwhile the entire Confederacy had its at- 
tention centred on a campaign which threatened the 
disruption of its power. Buckner was ordered 
down from Knoxville to reinforce Bragg ; part of 
Johnston's army was hurried to him ; and taking 
advantage of the quiet after the Gettysburg cam- 
paign, Lee sent Lougstreet's strong corps to enable 
Bragg to overwhelm his foes. For several days 
Rosecrans's scattered forces were exposed to attack 
in detail, but presently he began to hear rumors of 
a movement against him, and hastily ordered his 
corps to concentrate. Barely had this been ac- 
complished when, on September 20th, Bragg's 
augmented army burst upon him at Chickamauga 
Creek. 

The two days' battle which followed was one of 
the deadliest in the history of the war. Rosecrans 
was in position about fifteen miles south of Chatta- 
nooga, with Missionary Ridge at his rear, pierced 
by certain roads which were essential to a successful 
retreat. He placed Thomas on his left to cover 
these roads, and McCook on the right, with Crit- 
tenden in the centre. Bragg's army attacked all 



CHATTANOOGA 193 

along the line, but his plan was to throw back 
Thomas's corps, so as to cut off communication with 
Chattanooga. During the first day the Confederates 
were repulsed, although the loss on both sides was 
very great, but on the second day, in shifting rein- 
forcements to Thomas, a fatal gap was left in 
McCook's line, through which Longstreet poured 
eight brigades in au overwhelming mass, and the 
right wing crumbled to pieces. Rosecrans, McCook 
and Crittenden were swept away to Chattanooga in 
a torrent of fugitives, and the rout seemed complete. 
Meanwhile, Thomas held his men in position for six 
hours, in spite of the assault of practically the whole 
of Bragg's army, earning here the well-deserved title 
of "the Rock of Chickamauga." When nightfall 
came, Thomas withdrew and presently the survivors 
of this costly battle were reunited in Chattanooga. 

Chickamauga was a disastrous result of a campaign 
which had opened so brilliantly, and its effect was 
to demoralize the Union army. Dana was one of 
the fugitives, and his telegram to Stanton, sent be- 
fore he knew of Thomas's steadfast defense, opened : 
" Chickamauga is as fatal a name in our history as 
Bull Run." But when the Army of the Cumber- 
land was reassembled in Chattanooga, Bragg's army 
was the least of the enemies which they needed to 
fear. Starvation and disorganization were close 
upon Rosecrans's discouraged troops, and these were 
foes which no valor could repel. The supplies for 
the army were brought by rail from Nashville to 
Bridgeport, where the railroad crosses the Tennessee 



194 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Biver, and thence runs east through the Lookout 
Valley to Chattanooga. But Bragg took position on 
Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, in a vast 
semicircle around the beleaguered city, and by his 
commanding situation cut off communicatious by 
both the railroad and the river. This left open for 
Rosecrans but a siugle wagon-road to Bridgeport, 
over Waldrou's Ridge, a distance of sixty miles, 
whereby all supplies for his army and the city must 
be brought. Wheeler's cavalry soon raided this 
road, and the rainy weather of the autumn made it 
almost impassable. The soldiers were put on half- 
rations and more than 10,000 horses and mules 
perished on the road and in the city from lack of 
forage, so that the artillery could scarcely be moved. 

Inside Chattanooga, the condition was most 
serious. Rosecrans, always a favorite with his 
men, seemed stunned by his defeat, and was unable 
to bring himself to plan the next step. There was 
general discontent with the commanders who had 
been in the early retreat from Chickamauga, and the 
confidence of the private soldiers had been sorely 
shaken. Once a sentry shouted out to his general to 
change commanders, or they would be defeated again. 
Wild stories about the personal conduct of some of 
the generals, always eagerly circulated after a de- 
feat, became camp gossip, and without necessary 
supplies and with no confidence for the future, the 
army was losing its morale. 

Meanwhile, prodigious efforts were being made by 
the Government to relieve the situation. Stanton 



CHATTANOOGA 195 

suggested a detachment from the Army of the Poto- 
mac for reinforcement, and the Eleventh and 
Twelfth Corps, numbering 20,000 men, were placed 
under Hooker, and with the fine cooperation of the 
railroads, moved through Wheeling, Cincinnati, and 
Nashville to Stevenson, a distance of 1,200 miles, 
in eight days. Grant was ordered to send all the 
men he could spare from Memphis, and at once 
started several divisions under Sherman. But there 
was considerable doubt as to whether Eosecraus 
could utilize these forces to advantage, and Dana's 
messages, always studied with considerable care at 
Washington, were full of the need of some new ad- 
ministrative force. Finally, in view of the great 
emergencies, Lincoln decided to consolidate the 
three armies of the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennes- 
see into the Military Division of the Mississippi, 
and to place Grant in supreme control. 

On October 10th, Grant received a message, dated 
one week earlier, to report at Cairo without de- 
lay. Hastening up the river, he received further 
orders to proceed to Louisville. While traveling by 
rail, he reached Indianapolis when a message di- 
rected him to join Stanton, who had hurried to the 
West. This was the first meeting between the great 
War Secretary and his famous general, and the 
crisis forced them into intimate relations at once. 
Stanton had brought with him the orders creating 
the new military division, and they were delivered 
to Grant with an alternative, either to retain Eose- 
crans in command of the Army of the Cumberland, 



196 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

or to replace him with Thomas. Since their expe- 
riences at Corinth, Grant had regarded Eosecrans as 
of uneven ability, and so he accepted the latter 
alternative. Proceeding to Louisville, he assumed 
charge of his new command, and at the same time 
wired to Chattanooga to hold out at all hazards, to 
which Thomas replied : " We will hold the town 
till we starve." At Nashville, on the way south, 
Grant first met Andrew Johnson, then military 
governor of Tennessee, so that the three great actors 
in the Eeconstruction controversy,— Grant, Stanton 
and Johnson, were now in close cooperation for the 
common cause. Grant was still suffering from his 
injured hip, and during the hard traveling from 
Bridgeport to Chattanooga he was carried by his 
escort over the many dangerous places in the road. 
The first and most urgent problem was to secure 
supplies. Provisions and clothing were both sadly 
needed, and must be procured before the reinforce- 
ments could be brought up. General William F. 
Smith, whose initiative in operating a sawmill to make 
supplies for pontoon bridges had attracted Grant's 
attention, proposed a plan for opening a short line 
to Bridgeport. Hooker was ordered to cross to the 
south side of the Tennessee and march eastward to 
Wauhatchie, on the west slope of Lookout Mountain. 
At the same time a detachment from Chattanooga 
came west along the line of the river, and crossed 
into the rear of Hooker's line of march. Four thou- 
sand men were placed directly under General Smith, 
who sent 1,800, under General Hazen, down the 



CHATTANOOGA 197 

river in pontoon boats, while Smith with the re- 
mainder marched down the north bank of the river 
to Brown's Ferry, three miles below Lookout Moun- 
tain. Hazeu landed on the same point, and covered 
the construction of a pontoon bridge, which was 
laid in five hours. Meanwhile, Hooker crossed the 
valley, and capturing some outposts, eventually 
connected with Smith at Brown's Perry. The re- 
sult of these manoeuvres was to give Grant a direct 
line to Bridgeport, easily protected and much shorter 
than the old wagon-road over Waldron's Ridge. 
Provisions from Bridgeport could now be brought 
by boat to Brown's Ferry, thence over one of the 
numerous bends in the Tennessee by wagon-road 
about eight miles to Chattanooga, and in great 
quantities supplies of all kinds poured into the be- 
leaguered city. * Loi] gstreet made a vigorous effort to 
uncover this route, but Hooker's successful defense 
of Wauhatchie made the new " cracker-line " secure. 
With the Army of the Cumberland again ready 
for offensive work, Grant had a new cause of anx- 
iety in eastern Tennessee. When Rosecrans had 
opened his campaign in the summer, Burnside had 

1 There has been an extended controversy as to who originated 
this plan for the relief of Chattanooga. In 1900a board of officers, 
consisting of General John R. Brooke, Colonel G. L. Gillespie 
and Colonel M. V. Sheridan, was appointed by the Secretary of 
War to ascertain whether the inscription on a monument at- 
tributing the plan to General Rosecrans was correct. After 
thorough investigation, the board reported that the plan was de- 
vised by General Rosecrans, and its execution begun by General 
Thomas before Grant arrived. General Smith protested vigor- 
ously against this finding. 



198 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

made a parallel advance to Kuoxville, with the 
Army of the Ohio. While Bragg' s army was facing 
Thomas at Chattanooga, the former, confident that 
starvation would soon compel his opponent either 
to surrender or to retreat, sent Longstreet, with 15, - 
000 men and Wheeler's Cavalry, into east Tennes- 
see. Later, Buckuer's division was ordered to join 
this expedition. Bragg evidently felt his position 
on Missionary Ridge absolutely secure, and so de- 
tached the strongest corps in his army, with the con- 
fident belief that Burnside could be overwhelmed, 
and Longstreet would return, before a battle near 
Chattanooga would be fought. 

Burnside was in a very critical position. While 
he was in a country with a population thoroughly 
loyal, yet his line of supplies was the railroad which 
ran from Nashville to Chattanooga, and then ex- 
tended to Kuoxville. If he were to exhaust his 
ammunition, or be defeated, his only line of retreat 
was north through the mountains, where his army 
could be easily scattered and maybe captured. 
Grant instantly recognized, however, that he could 
not send reinforcements to Burnside until he had 
cleared the railroad for supplies, and so he deter- 
mined to attack Bragg at Chattanooga, satisfied that 
a victory here would give relief to his army in east 
Tennessee. Until Sherman arrived, however, his 
force was not complete, and never was his patience 
more needed than during the weeks of waiting, when 
every message from Lincoln and Stanton urged the 
need of Knoxville. 



CHATTANOOGA 199 

Sherman had started from Memphis with four 
divisions. At first he was ordered to rebuild the 
railroad from Memphis east, so as to provide a new 
Hue of approach to Chattanooga. But as the need 
became greater, this work was dropped, and Sher- 
man made a forced march, arriving at Bridgeport 
on November 14th. As soon as his trusted lieuten- 
ant was within reach, Grant formed his plans of 
battle, his determination to fight being urged by the 
tidings from Burnside. 

Chattanooga is the centre of a natural amphi- 
theatre of war, and has been called by many critics 
the only great field of battle, in which all of the 
operations can be observed from a central point. 
The town itself is on the south side of a loop 
of the river. On the east and south runs Mis- 
sionary Bidge, from five hundred to eight hundred 
feet high, back of which is Chickamauga Creek. 
On the west is Lookout Mountain, twenty-two 
hundred feet high, extendi ug up to the river in a 
sharp ascent. Bragg held the north end of Look- 
out Mountain from the summit to the river, but had 
the larger part of his army on Missionary Ridge, 
and the valley of the Chattanooga, between the two 
mountains. Southeast from the north end of Mis- 
sionary Ridge was Chickamauga Station, on the rail- 
road to Dalton, where Bragg had his base of supplies. 

As soon as Sherman arrived, Grant formed his 
plan of campaign. While Hooker pressed the 
euemy's left on Lookout Mountain, and Thomas 
threatened his main line on Missionary Ridge, 



200 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

Sherman was to lead his men past Chattanooga, and 
storm the north end of Missionary Eidge. If suc- 
cessful, this would place him in command of the 
roads to Chickamauga Station, and so cut off Bragg 
from his base. It was necessary to wait for several 
days, however, for Sherman's men, who had been 
outstripped by their eager commander. In the 
meantime, two days of rain had ruined the roads, 
and raised the river to such a height that one of the 
pontoon bridges was swept away. Moreover, no 
tidings had been received from Burnside, whose 
telegraphic communication had been broken by 
Longstreet's advance, and who was evidently in 
great need. By November 23d Grant felt that the 
emergency was so great that he gave the word to ad- 
vance before Sherman's men were in position. 

The first operations of the three days' battle were 
gallantly performed by the Army of the Cumberland, 
whose fighting tone was now admirable. Between 
Chattanooga and the foot of Missionary Eidge, Bragg 
had a number of outposts centering on Orchard 
Knob, a slight elevation about one mile south of the 
city. On the afternoon of November 23d Thomas 
so quietly moved out his men, with Sheridan's and 
Wood's divisions in the lead, that the enemy thought 
it was a dress parade. Then the word was given 
for a charge, and the steady advance was never 
slackened until Orchard Knob and all of its out- 
posts were taken, and the Union line moved up to 
the foot of the Eidge. 

Meanwhile, Sherman had led his men behind 



CHATTANOOGA 201 

Chattanooga, and held them bidden on the north 
bank of the Tennessee, near the mouth of Chicka- 
mauga Creek. Bragg evidently thought that Sher- 
man had marched away to Knox vi lie ; but on the 
night of November 23d, by aid of a steamer and 
pontoons, two divisions were landed on the south 
bank of the river, and by noon of November 24th 
the bridge was completed, and Sherman's four divi- 
sions were ready for the attack. He instautly led 
his men against Bragg' s extreme right wing, on the 
end of Missionary Ridge, and by nightfall his com- 
mand had been pushed with such vigor that he had 
effected a lodgment on the Ridge itself, thereby 
threatening the road to Chickamauga. 

At the same time that Sherman was fighting on 
the east, Hooker was advancing from Lookout Val- 
ley on the west. In his plans Grant had expected 
to have brought Hooker into Chattanooga, and then 
to have pushed his men down the line of the creek, 
so as to separate Bragg' s left wing, on Lookout 
Mountain, from the main body. This would have 
involved a double crossing of the Tennessee, and in 
the then torrential condition of the river would 
have been a hazardous movement, so Hooker was 
ordered to march around the mountain. Asceuding 
it part way in the rear of the Confederate position, 
Hooker formed his men in a battle-line up and down 
the mountain, and sweeping around its north end, 
he drove the Confederates everywhere before him. 
It was not a quick operation, for Lookout Mountain 
is rugged, densely timbered and full of ravines, but 



202 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Hooker steadily advanced, and by four o'clock the 
Confederates fled, losing heavily in prisoners. As 
the day was hazy, the fighting on the mountain 
could only be seen from the lowlands by the flash of 
the firing, and so this victory came to be called 
" the Battle of the Clouds." 

By nightfall Grant's army was in a continuous 
line, having achieved material gains on both flanks, 
and was full of confidence for the morrow. Orders 
were at once prepared to resume the fighting at 
daybreak. Sherman was to complete his turning 
movement on the left, Hooker was to cross the 
Chattanooga Creek and take the Kossville Gap, 
while Thomas was to menace the centre. On the 
morning of November 25th Sherman started the 
fighting at sunrise, and endeavored to push his ad- 
vantage of the previous day. His assault had dis- 
closed, however, what had not been learned before, 
that the Ridge was not continuous, but was cut by a 
road and railroad tunnel, with almost precipitous 
sides. In spite of the vigor of Sherman's assaults, 
he could not get past this obstacle, and his progress 
was blocked. Bragg early recognized the danger 
from this attack, and hastened heavy reinforce- 
ments to his threatened right wing, until Sherman 
found himself faced with superior numbers. Mean- 
while, Hooker's advance had been blocked by a 
burned bridge, and the rebuilding kept him out of 
the battle for four hours. 

As the afternoon hours came, Grant's plan was 
only partially accomplished, and from his position 



CHATTANOOGA 203 

at Orchard Knob he could see Sherman's difficulty, 
aud also the columns of reinforcements marching 
along the Ridge to meet him. In this emergency, 
realizing that Bragg was weakening his centre to 
strengthen his right, he ordered Thomas to advance 
and attack the Eidge. It is probable that Grant 
only intended this attack as a diversion to relieve 
Sherman. The Ridge was wooded and precipitous, 
with deep gullies, and protected by a line of rifle- 
pits at the bottom, another half-way up, and by en- 
trenchments and artillery on the summit. Such a 
position seemed impregnable, and so Bragg thought. 
But when Thomas's men, again under the lead of 
Sheridan and Wood, advanced, they took the first 
row of rifle-pits, and then found themselves exposed 
to the fire from above. Instantly, without waiting 
for orders, the men started to run up the Ridge. It 
was not the word of command which started them : 
it was rather the eagerness to fight of an army which 
burned to redeem the disaster of Chickamauga. 

The storming of Missionary Ridge is one of the 
heroic episodes of warfare, and its glory belongs 
especially to the privates of the North. It was not 
an easy task which they had accepted. It meant 
running up a steep hillside, in the face of shot and 
shell, and then resting in gullies, and reforming, 
then charging again, until they came so close to the 
crest that Bragg' s artillerists lighted the fuses of 
shells, and tossed them down on their enemy. But 
the advance never faltered, and when they finally 
reached the summit, Bragg's veterans were seized 



204 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

with sudden panic and fled. 1 It was the reverse of 
Chickamauga : Bragg and his generals were now 
swept away in turn, and his headquarters seized by 
the Union advance. The divisions of Sheridan and 
Wood first reached the crest of the Eidge, and are 
entitled to the honors of this signal victory. 

A vigorous pursuit was started, with Sheridan in 
the van, but the approach of night gave Bragg an 
opportunity to draw off his defeated forces. Oue 
division was blocked by Hooker, and many of its 
men captured, but in the main the Confederates 
made good their retreat. 8 For two days Grant fol- 

1 Charles A. Dana in " Recollections of the Civil War," p. 
150, gives a vivid account of the main attack : 

"The storming of the ridge by our troops was one of the 
greatest miracles in military history. No man who climbs the 
ascent by any of the roads that wind along its front can believe 
that eighteen thousand men were moved in tolerably good order 
up its broken and crumbling face unless it was his fortune to 
witness the deed. It seemed as awful as a visible interposition 
of God. Neither Grant nor Thomas intended it. Their orders 
were to carry the rifle-pits along the base of the ridge and cap- 
ture their occupants ; but when this was accomplished, the un- 
accountable spirit of the troops bore them bodily up those im- 
practicable steeps, in spite of the bristling rifle-pits on the crest, 
and the thirty cannons enfilading every gully. The order to 
storm appears to have been given simultaneously by Generals 
Sheridan and Wood because the men were not to be held back, 
dangerous as the attempt appeared to military prudence. Be- 
sides, the generals had caught the inspiration of the men, and 
were ready themselves to undertake impossibilities." 

2 The losses in the Battle of Chattanooga were reported as fol- 
lows : 

Killed Wounded Missing 

Union 753 4,722 349 

Confederate 361 2,180 4,146 

As Grant took over 6,100 prisoners, these figures are obviously 
incomplete. In addition, forty guns were taken by the victors. 



CHATTANOOGA 205 

lowed vigorously, but Burnside's need was upper- 
most in his mind. When he fought the battle, word 
had already been received that Burnside could only 
hold out until December 3d. So Granger's corps 
was ordered to the relief, and later, as Granger 
made a slow start, Sherman was placed in command, 
aud his divisions added to the expedition. Under 
this vigorous leadership, an army of 25,000 men 
was hurried to east Tennessee, and on December 3d 
Sherman's cavalry entered Knoxville and gave to 
Burnside the welcome news of approaching relief. 
Longstreet had already made an assault, and had 
failed completely. He did not await Sherman's ar- 
rival, but breaking the siege led his men away to the 
east, in the direction of Virginia where, after winter- 
ing in the mountains, he joined Lee in time for the 
opening battles of the next year. 

Sherman found Knoxville well provisioned for a 
beleaguered city, and dined with Burnside on roast 
turkey ! The loyal inhabitants of the region had 
developed so many ways of getting food to the gar- 
rison that the extreme anxiety about its welfare 
seems to have been unnecessary. Leaving Granger's 
divisions with Burnside, who was soon succeeded by 
General John G. Foster, Sherman retraced his steps 
to Chattanooga, where his men were ordered again 
to Mississippi. They had marched four hundred 
miles to the relief of Chattanooga, taken part in a 
great battle, and then without any delay they had 
marched one hundred aud twenty miles more to the 
relief of Knoxville. 






206 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

The Battle of Chattanooga closed active military 
operations in the vicinity for the year. It was the 
only battle of the war in which the four greatest 
generals of the North, — Grant, Sherman, Sheridan 
and Thomas, served together. The victory as- 
sured Unionist control of Tennessee, and practically 
pierced the Confederacy, already severed by the 
Mississippi, on a new line, following the sweep of 
the mountains. A few days after the battle Bragg, 
who blamed his defeat on the unnecessary stampede 
of his men, resigned, and after a slight delay, Joseph 
E. Johnston was restored to complete command in 
the West. He spent the winter at Dalton and 
Atlanta, refitting his army, and gathering recruits, 
so as to be ready for the decisive operations of the 
next year. Meanwhile, Grant, after his great vic- 
tory, had established a sure basis for great popularity 
with every section of his command. ' ' Our men are 
frantic with joy and enthusiasm," wrote Dana, " and 
received General Grant as he rode along the line 
after the victory with tumultuous shouts. " Thomas 
was placed in command at Chattanooga, and Sher- 
man, now in charge of the Army of the Tennessee, 
returned to Memphis. 1 

1 On December 2d Grant wrote to Wash burn e : "Last 
week was a stirring time with us, and a magnificent victory was 
won. . . . The spectacle was grand beyond anything that 
has been or is likely to be on this continent. It is the first bat- 
tle-field I have ever seen where a plan could be followed and 
from one place the whole field be within one view. At the 
commencement of the battle, the line was fifteen miles long. 
Hooker, on our right, soon carried the point of Lookout Moun- 
tain, and Sherman the north end of Missionary Ridge, thus 



CHATTANOOGA 207 

During the winter ambitious plans were forming 
for the next campaign. Grant's mind was still 
directed to Mobile or Atlanta as the true objective 
points, but Halleck for a time had a design of send- 
ing Grant with his extra troops to the west of the 
Mississippi River to join Banks in a campaign in 
Louisiana and Arkansas. Grant wrote in protest 
against such a detachment from the main theatre of 
war, and one of his staff officers indignantly ad- 
dressed Dana,—" Let's crush the head and heart of 
the rebellion and the tail can then be ground to dust 
or allowed to die when the sun goes down." Some 
military critics also suggested that an army could 
now be brought into Virginia from east Tenuessee, 
on Lee's flank, and so aid in a campaign against 
Richmond. 

As a preliminary to offensive operations, how- 
ever, it was necessary that Mississippi should be 
cleared of organized enemies, so as to reduce the 
garrisons, and also safeguard the increasing com- 
merce of the river. To this end Sherman, in Feb- 
ruary, 1864, organized an expedition of twenty 
thousand men, with which he overran the state 
without any effective opposition, taking Meridian, 
where the railroad from Mobile crosses the railroad 
east from Jackson, and wrecking the means of com- 
munication in every direction. Upon his return 

shortening the line by five or six miles, and bringing the whole 
within one view. Our troops behaved most magnificently, and 
have inflicted on the enemy the heaviest blow they have re- 
ceived during the war." 



208 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

he received information that a change was about to 
take place in the nature of the war. The day of 
disjointed operations and isolated struggles had 
passed, for Grant was now to be placed in supreme 
command of all of the armies of the Union. 

The true leader had been found, and the great 
resources of the Union were henceforth to be di- 
rected by a master-hand. 






CHAPTER X 

WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 

"In a military point of view, tbauk heaven ! the 
' coming man,' for whom we have so long been 
waiting, seems really to have come." So wrote the 
eminent historian, John Lothrop Motley, to his 
mother, on December 29, 1863, from the distant 
city of Vienna, where he was representing his coun- 
try as Minister to Austria. "So far as I can un- 
derstand the subject, Ulysses Grant is at least the 
equal to any general now living in any part of the 
world, and by far the first that the war has pro- 
duced on either side. I expect that when the 
Vicksburg and Tennessee campaigns come to be 
written, many years hence, it will appear that they 
are masterpieces of military art. A correspondent 
of a widely-circulated German newspaper (the Augs- 
burg Gazette), very far from friendly to America, 
writing from the seat of war in Tennessee, speaks of 
the battle of Chattanooga as an action which, both 
for scientific combination and bravery in execution, 
is equal to any battle of modern times from the days 
of Frederick the Great downward." l 

While this point of view was slowly developing in 
Europe, it had already become a settled conviction 

1,1 The Correspondence of John Lothrop Motley," Vol. II, 
p. 146. 



210 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

in the North. During the earlier campaigns of the 
war, Lincoln, as the constitutional Commander-in- 
Chief of the Army, had been compelled to devote a 
large portion of his time to questions of strategy and 
warfare. With his strong common sense and clear 
judgment, although without any previous military 
training, he developed in time into an excellent 
critic of matters relating to the army, but his cor- 
respondence shows how he distrusted his own opin- 
ion in this new field, and how eagerly he sought for 
some one with the requisite capacity to assume this 
task. The first three years of the war might almost 
be termed the period of search for a general. Some- 
times a leader was found who could succeed in the 
preliminary work of organization, and then later 
an inability to use his forces would be discovered. 
Sometimes there was circumstantial evidence that 
officers in high places, while thoroughly loyal to the 
Union, were nevertheless half-hearted in their de- 
sire to crush the South, or else lukewarm in support 
of the administration's policy toward the negro. 

As an illustration of Lincoln's difficulties, the case 
of Major John J. Key, whose brother was on Mc- 
Clellan's staff, may be cited. After the battle of 
Antietam, an officer asked Major Key why an ad- 
vance had not been ordered, and the rebel army 
" bagged," to which he replied : " That is not the 
game ; the object is that neither army shall get 
much advantage of the other ; that both shall be 
kept in the field till they are exhausted, when we 
will make a compromise and save slavery." After 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 211 

a hearing before the President, Key was dismissed 
from the military service, Lincoln's order containing 
this comment : "In my view it is wholly inadmis- 
sible for any gentleman holding a military commis- 
sion from the United States to utter such sentiments 
as Major Key is herein proved to have done." 

The combination of inexperience, incapacity and 
half- hearted uess in some subordinates had forced 
Lincoln to give orders to generals in the field, but 
nothing better demonstrates his genuine desire to 
avoid meddling than his attitude toward the gen- 
erals who did succeed. From the beginning of 
Grant's career he had not been hampered or both- 
ered in any way by directions from the President. 
After the surrender of Vicksburg, Lincoln wrote 
him his first letter, in congratulation on the results 
of his generalship. During the Chattanooga cam- 
paign he received many messages that showed 
Lincoln's anxiety about Burnside, but absolutely 
nothing which altered his plans or changed his dis- 
positions. The results which Grant had accom- 
plished, and the patriotic efficiency of the man as 
portrayed in Dana's confidential letters to his chief, 
now strongly contributed to suggest that the time 
had come to give over the military work to an expert. 

Nor was Congress slow to respond to the national 
need. Early in the winter Senator Howe had of- 
fered a resolution authorizing the President to en- 
list a million volunteers, and to place Grant in 
command, with power to appoint subordinates. 
The more practicable plan was suggested by Wash- 



212 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

burne, who, after the battle of Chattanooga, had in- 
troduced a bill to revive the grade of Lieutenant- 
General in the army, and to authorize the President 
to appoint to this position some officer, not below 
the grade of major-general, with power, under the 
direction of the President, to command all of the 
armies of the United States. This title had been 
conferred upon Washington in the last years of his 
life, and by brevet, upon Scott. Its revival met 
with some opposition, chiefly from those who feared 
that a military despotism might result from the 
war, but the bill passed the House and Senate and 
on February 29th was signed by the President. 
During the Congressional debates, Grant's name was 
frequently mentioned as the probable appointee, and 
his achievements and shortcomings were freely dis- 
cussed. Washburne, in reviewing his record, de- 
clared that, " Every promotion he has received since 
he first entered the service to put down this rebel- 
lion was moved without his knowledge or consent." 
During this flattering discussion there was much 
natural curiosity about Grant's politics. In the early 
months of 1864 some opposition to Lincoln had 
developed, and attempts were being made to centre 
its strength on a candidate who conld be elected. 
Military reputation has always appealed to politi- 
cians in the United States, and attempts were now 
made in several quarters to sound Grant and to draw 
forth his views. "While originally a Democrat, 
there can be no question but that by this time he 
had identified the restoration of the Union with the 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 213 

continued success of the Republican party, and it 
was not until after a residence in Washington that 
civil ambitions began to develop. " I am not a 
candidate for any office," he wrote to his father from 
Nashville on February 20, 1864. " All I want is to 
be left alone to tight this war out. ... I know 
that I feel that nothing personal to myself could 
ever induce me to accept a political office." A 
month earlier he had written Isaac W. Morris, son of 
the Senator who had helped his application to West 
Point : " In your letter you say that I have it iu 
my power to be the next President. This is the last 
thing in the world I desire. I would regard such a 
consummation as highly unfortunate for myself, if 
not for the country." One of his letters, in which 
this point of view was expressed, was shown to 
Lincoln, and satisfied him that here was no political 
general, who would allow his plans to be determined 
by considerations of vote-getting. 

So well content was Lincoln with his inquiry that 
the same day upon which Washburne's bill was 
signed witnessed his nomination of Grant as Lieu- 
tenant-General of the armies of the United States. 
Grant was then at Nashville, engrossed with his 
preparations for the next Western campaign. 
On March 3d he received orders to report at 
Washington, and the next day he started east, first 
sending a letter to Sherman, which expresses a 
friendship as real and unselfish as anything which 
has come down from the days of chivalry. 1 
1 See Appendix A, p. 352. 



214 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

Without delay Grant proceeded to Washington 
where he had not been since his boyhood days. 
His reception was instant proof of his place in the 
minds of his countrymen. Stopping at the Willard 
Hotel, he was quickly recognized and toasted by a 
large group of enthusiastic diners. Later, on the 
evening of March 8th, he went to the White House 
where he was presented to Lincoln, and lionized by 
a throng of curious visitors, whose rush was so 
eager that Seward pulled him upon a sofa to bow 
his acknowledgments. The next day, in the pres- 
ence of the Cabinet, Lincoln delivered the commis- 
sion as Lieutenant-General, speaking as follows : 
" General Grant, the nation's appreciation of what 
you have done, and its reliance upon you for what 
remains to do in the existing great struggle, are now 
presented, with this commission constituting you 
Lieutenant-General in the Army of the United 
States. With this high honor devolves upon you, 
also, a corresponding responsibility. As the coun- 
try herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain 
you. I scarcely need to add that with what I here 
speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal 
concurrence." 

To this formal but kindly greeting, Grant re- 
sponded as follows, reading from a half sheet of 
note-paper, on which he had written in lead pencil : 
"Mr. President, I accept this commission with 
gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the 
aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many 
fields for our common country, it will be my earnest 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 215 

endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel 
the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving 
on me ; and I know that if they are met, it will be due 
to those armies, and above all to the favor of that 
Providence which leads both nations and men." 

During the reception, Lincoln had told Grant of 
the nature of the exercises on the morrow, and had 
suggested to him to say in reply something which 
would prevent jealousy on the part of other generals, 
and also something which would put him on good 
terms with the Army of the Potomac. It will be 
noticed that in Grant's response this request was 
quietly ignored. He had approached Washington 
with the soldier's dread of politics and politicians, 
so frequently voiced by Sherman in his letters, and 
he evidently felt that, on his first public utterance as 
Lieutenant-General, he should say only those things 
which were based on his own experience. 

It is interesting to note the impression which 
Grant made upon the leaders of the East in this 
visit to the capital, at a time when his unequaled 
record in the West made his personality of para- 
mount interest. John Sherman wrote to his brother, 
— "His will and common sense are the strongest 
features of his character. He is plain and modest, 
and so far bears himself well." Richard H. Dana 
was staying at Willard's Hotel when Grant arrived, 
and described him as "a short, round-shouldered 
man, in a very tarnished major-general's uni- 
form. ... He had no gait, no station, no 
manner, rough, light-brown whiskers, a blue eye 



216 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

and rather a scrubby look withal." But even the 
cultured man of letters noticed that he had " a look 
of resolution, as if he could not be trifled with, and 
an entire indifference to the crowd about him." 
Perhaps the most interesting of contemporary ac- 
counts is that of Meade, who was still in command 
of the Army of the Potomac, and who evidently 
expected tnat the advent of this new commander 
from the West would deprive him of the command 
which he had fairly earned at Gettysburg. In 
December, 1863, after the victory at Chattanooga, 
Meade wrote: "You ask me about Grant. It is 
difficult for me to reply. I knew him as a young 
man in the Mexican War, at which time he was con- 
sidered a clever young officer, but nothing extraor- 
dinary. He was compelled to resign some years 
before the present war, owing to his irregular 
habits. I think his great characteristic is indomi- 
table energy and great tenacity of purpose. He 
certainly has been very successful, and that is now- 
adays the measure of reputation. The enemy, 
however, have never had in any of their Western 
armies the generals or the troops they have had in 
Virginia, nor has the country been so favorable for 
them there as here. Grant has undoubtedly shown 
very superior abilities and is, I think, justly entitled 
to all the honors they propose to bestow upon 
him." ' But iu March, 1864, after Grant had been 
appointed Lieutenant-General, and had visited the 

1 " Life and Letters of General George Gordon Meade," "Vol. 
II, pp. 162-163. 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 217 

Army of the Potomac, and conferred with Meade, 
the latter wrote, — "I was very much pleased with 
General Grant. In the views he expressed to me 
he showed much more capacity and character than 
I had expected." One of the close observers of the 
war time, whose voluminous diary contains many 
trenchant comments on men and officers, was the 
Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, and he wrote : 
" There was in his deportment little of the dignity 
and bearing of the soldier but more of an air of 
business than his first appearance indicated, but he 
showed latent power." 

Morris Schaff, who had but recently graduated 
from West Point, thus describes the new general, 
with the eyes of youth : "When he came to the 
Army of the Potomac — I remember the day well — I 
never was more surprised in my life. I had ex- 
pected to see quite another type of man : one of the 
chieftain- type, surveying the world with dominant, 
inveterate eyes and a certain detached military lofti- 
ness. But behold, what did I see? A medium- 
sized, mild, unobtrusive, inconspicuously dressed, 
modest and naturally silent man. He had a low, 
gently vibrant voice and steady, thoughtful, softly 
blue eyes. Not a hint of self-consciousness, impa- 
tience, of restlessness, either of mind or body ; on the 
contrary, the centre of a pervasive quiet which 
seemed to be conveyed to every one around him — 
even the orderlies all through the campaign were 
obviously at their ease." l 

•Schaff, "The Battle of the Wilderness," p. 47. 



218 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

From Lis appointment, Lincoln trusted Grant 
implicitly, and the latter loyally responded to the 
trust. Their correspondence is expressive of a 
mutual confidence, wholly different from the carp- 
ing, critical attitude of the dispatches of McClellan 
or Eosecrans. Lincoln did not seek to penetrate his 
general's plans, nor did he try to change them as they 
were announced, and throughout the long hard year 
of struggle which was now opening, never withdrew 
his confidence from his general. There is a well- 
substantiated story that once Stanton objected to 
Grant's plan of campaign, as leaving Washington 
exposed to attack with an insufficient garrison, a 
fear afterward justified by Early's campaign. 
Upon complaining to Lincoln, the President said, 
" Now, Mr. Secretary, you know we have been try- 
ing to manage this army for nearly three years, and 
you know we haven't done much with it. We sent 
over the mountains, and brought Mr. Grant, as Mrs. 
Grant calls him, to manage it for us, and now I 
guess we had better let Mr. Grant have his own 
way." 

When the "show business " at Washington was 
concluded, Grant, styling these social experiences 
"his warmest campaign during the war," returned 
to Tennessee for a conference with his Western 
lieutenants. The plan of campaign for the spring 
was already fully matured and its chief requirement 
was coordinate action by all the armies of the North. 
In the opening paragraphs of his final report to the 
Secretary of War, he clearly stated the strategic 



WITH THE AKMY OF THE POTOMAC 219 

weakness of the earlier campaigns. " The armies 
in the East and West acted independently and with- 
out concert, like a balky team, no two ever pulling 
together, enabling the enemy to use to greater 
advantage his interior lines of communication for 
transporting troops from East to West, reinforcing 
the armies most vigorously pressed, and to furlough 
large numbers, during seasons of inactivity on our 
part, to go to their homes and do the work of pro- 
ducing for the support of their armies." His 
problem was to break the military power of the 
rebellion aud the methods which he determined to 
employ were, first, to use the greatest number of 
troops practicable against the armed force of the 
enemy, and, second, to hammer continuously until, 
by mere attrition, if in no other way, rebellion 
should be overthrown. It needed no peculiar genius 
to perfect a plan based fundamentally on common 
sense, but it did require steadfastness of purpose 
and administrative ability of the highest order to 
insure the harmonious cooperation of generals and 
armies in nineteen separate departments over an 
area continental in its extent. 

The specific details of the campaign were soon 
arranged. Sherman, who had succeeded Grant in 
command of the military division of the Mississippi, 
was to lead the armies of the Cumberland, Tennes- 
see and Ohio against Johnston, who was protecting 
Atlanta. The Army of the Potomac, which had 
been reorganized by Meade into three corps, the 
Second, Fifth and Sixth, commanded respectively 



220 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

by Hancock, Warren and Sedgwick, was to attack 
Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, — the main defense 
of the capital of the Confederacy. Butler, with the 
Army of the James, was to threaten Richmond from 
the southeast. Some minor operations were also 
undertaken, such as the unfortunate Red River ex- 
pedition under Banks, the orders for which had been 
issued prior to Grant's assumption of the command ; 
but wherever possible, a consolidation was effected, 
so as to bring the greatest possible force to bear 
upon the important objective points. In this way 
large reinforcements were gathered for Butler's 
army and another corps, the Ninth, under Burnside, 
for Meade's army. Sheridan was ordered east and 
placed in charge of the cavalry of the Army of the 
Potomac. 

Against the advice of his Western friends, Grant 
decided to assume personal charge of the operations 
against Lee, not only because of their primary im- 
portance, but also in recognition of the fact that 
Washington was the storm-centre of the political 
influences which had continually interfered with the 
success of the army in the East. It was less than 
six months from this time that Lincoln, writing in 
approval of one of Grant's suggestions, said, "I 
repeat to you, it will neither be done nor attempted, 
unless you watch it every day and hour, and force 
it." When Grant had assumed command, Meade, 
with the chivalry of his high-bred nature, at once 
offered to resign the command of the Army of the 
Potomac, so as to leave the way open for Sherman 



WITH THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC 221 

or some Western general, but Grant declined this 
proposition in the most complimentary terms, and 
henceforth established his headquarters near to that 
of Meade, giving his orders, whenever possible, 
through the latter and constantly endeavoring with 
tine consideration to avoid wounding the feelings of 
the subordinate under whom the Army of the 
Potomac had won its greatest victory. This double- 
headed arrangement for the command of the army 
has been severely criticized as leading to confusion 
and lack of direction and responsibility, but there 
can be no doubt that it was highly advantageous to 
the General to have at his right hand one who 
through intimate association had become acquainted 
with the fighting power and capacity for leadership 
of his subordinates and their troops. 

Two months were spent in accumulating supplies 
and other necessary preparations and the first week 
of May was appointed for the general advance. On 
schedule time, as the parts of one vast machine, 
Sherman advanced against Dalton, Butler moved up 
the River James and the Army of the Potomac com- 
menced its death-grapple with its redoubtable 
opponent. During the spring Meade' s army, which, 
including Burnside, numbered 120,000, was en- 
camped north of the Rapidau and west of Fredericks- 
burg. The Confederates, less than 70,000 in all, 
were still in winter quarters south of the Rapidan in 
three corps commanded by Ewell, A. P. Hill and 
Longstreet. Between these two forces, which from 
discipline and training were probably the finest 



222 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

fighting organizations ever seen in the republic, was 
the dark and bloody ground of the Virginia wilder- 
ness, a district of twenty -five miles of dense forest, 
"scrubby, stubborn oaks and low-limbed, dis- 
ordered, haggard pines," a stunted growth of 
trees intermingled with thick underbrush already 
hallowed by the sad memories of Chancellorsville. 

In determining upon a line of advance three plans 
were considered : first, to transport the army by the 
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries to the peninsula, 
and thence to approach Richmond from the south- 
east. This had been McClellan's plan, and as in his 
day it was open to the objection that it uncovered 
Washington to a frontal attack. Moreover, it 
meant that the fighting would take place when Lee 
was protected by the entrenchments around Rich- 
mond, and as Grant had early realized that the 
Confederate Army, rather than the capital, was 
his real objective point, this plan was rejected. 
Secondly, he could advance by the right flank and, 
by turning Lee's position, approach Richmond from 
the northwest ; but this involved a departure from 
the rivers which furnished a convenient mode of 
supply and would hence result in a long and 
hazardous line of communications. There remained 
the approach by Lee's left flank, and it was Graut's 
expectation that the first marches could be made so 
speedily as to place his army in the clear ground 
beyond the Wilderness, before Lee could intervene. 

Never is attention to detail more needed than 
when a commander is face to face with the enemy. 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 223 

The first orders, copies of which were sent to all corps 
commanders, so that each might be advised not only 
what was expected of himself but of the others, are 
given in full as an illustration of the exactitude of 
the plan. 1 Early in the morning of May 4th, the 
army commenced its march and before night all 
except Burnside were across the Rapidan together 
with a large part of the trains numbering over 4,000 
wagons. It is possible that a rapid march might 
have taken the army through the Wilderness with- 
out a battle, but this would have involved a danger 
to the trains and a possible separation from Burn- 
side. Meanwhile Lee, whose customary vigilance 
had been much increased by the expectation of an 
offensive movement, had determined to force the 
fighting in the Wilderness, where the nature of the 
ground would minimize the numerical advantage of 
the enemy, both in men and artillery. On May 5th 
Sedgwick was on the right, Warren in the centre, 
and Hancock some miles in advance at Chancellors- 
ville, while Burnside was in the rear crossing the 
Rapidan, when Ewell advanced against Sedgwick 
and Hill against Warren, and the battle commenced. 
When the presence of the foe was ascertained 
Hancock was ordered back from Chaucellorsville so 
as to connect with Warren. During the whole of 
this day the battle raged furiously with lines so close 
that there was a succession of hand-to-hand combats 
and continuous and deadly musketry. The dif- 
ficulties of the ground and the succession of forest, 
1 See Appendix B, page 356. 



224 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

underbrush and swamp prevented many of the 
officers from seeing more than a small proportion of 
their commands and blocked absolutely a bird's-eye 
view of the battle. By night both sides were ex- 
hausted, but neither had yielded and when darkness 
came the combatants rested on the battle-line, both 
sides expecting reinforcements on the morrow. 

At five o'clock on the morning of May 6th the 
fighting was resumed and Hancock, who was now 
expecting Burnside, took the offensive on the Orange 
Plank road. For some time his advance was suc- 
cessful but was eventually blocked by Longstreet's 
heavy corps. During most of this day the Union 
left was severely handicapped by the expectation of 
a flank attack similar to that which Jackson had 
tried so successfully against Hooker in the previous 
year. Eventually Longstreet formed four brigades 
in line and leading this strong column along a 
parallel road against the flank of Hancock'sposition, 
for a time swept everything before him. But in the 
early afternoon, when success seemed within reach, 
by the supreme action of chance Longstreet was 
wounded by his own men, and it was some hours 
before the Confederates could push their advantage 
with vigor. When the final attack was made the 
enemy was completely repulsed and Hancock thus 
held about the same line as in the morning. 

While the left was thus bearing the brunt of the 
battle with attack and counter-attack, on the centre 
and right, Warren and Sedgwick were passing 
through a similar experience and the final fighting 



WITH THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC 225 

of the day came 011 the extreme right when Gordon 
and Johnston made a sudden attack at sunset upon 
Shaler's brigade, turning its position and taking 
several hundred prisoners, thus compelling Sedgwick 
to reform his line. 

Two days of the hardest fighting of the war had 
proved the mettle of both armies. Almost 30,000 
men were killed, wounded or missing and the 
necessities of the suffering were very great. In the 
afternoon of the second day, fires in the underbrush 
had burnt the bodies of many of the dead and prob- 
ably brought death to many of the helpless wounded. 
Both sides were exhausted but dauntless. In its 
results the battle cannot be counted as a decisive 
victory for either. Lee could not claim a victory 
for now that Grant's entire army was well-placed in 
a continuous line of battle protected by temporary 
entrenchments, he withdrew a mile distant and 
fortified his position. Nor could Grant claim a 
victory, for he had suffered far greater loss than he 
had inflicted, nor had he destroyed the fighting 
power of the enemy. The third day opened, there- 
fore, with a series of skirmishes which disclosed the 
enemy's position, and then the day was spent in 
welcome rest and ministrations of mercy. 

The previous experience of the Army of the 
Potomac had suggested that after a great battle 
there should be a season of recuperation, and this 
tradition had inspired Grant's criticism that the 
army had never been fought to a finish. With this 
thought in mind, therefore, he determined upon an 



226 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

advance by the left flank around Lee's array, and 
during the night of May 7th the Army of the 
Potomac, led by Warren, moved out of the Wilder- 
ness toward Spottsylvania Court House. When the 
order to march was given the soldiers could not tell 
at first whether it was a retreat or an advance, but 
as the direction inclined to the southeast it was 
evident that no backward movement was intended, 
and the cry of " On to Richmond'' was passed 
through the lines with electric effect. From this 
moment dated Grant's popularity with his new 
army, which had accepted him with some doubt as 
to how he would fare when face to face with this 
hitherto invincible opponent. 

South of the Rapidau, eastern Virginia is cut by 
a multitude of small streams which, eventually 
uniting into larger rivers, empty into the Chesapeake. 
The northernmost are the Mat, Ta, Po and Ny 
Rivers, whose union forms the Mattapony ; then 
come the North and South Anna, which form the 
Pamuukey ; then the Chickahominy, which is the 
main tributary of the James, on the north side, as 
the Appomattox is on the south. The Mattapony 
and the Pamuukey eventually unite in the York 
River, and the district between the York and the 
James is known as the Peninsula, and was the scene 
of McClellan' s campaign. Spottsylvania is a county- 
seat between the Po and the Ny Rivers, and the ex- 
istence of these small streams added immeasurably 
to the difficulties of offensive warfare. 

On May 8th the army marched toward Spottsyl- 



WITH THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC 227 

vauia and came near to taking the strong works at 
that place without a battle. When Lee had been 
advised of the movement of Grant's trains, he at 
once ordered Longstrect's corps, now under the 
command of E. H. Anderson, to march to Spottsyl- 
vania, thinking that Grant was making for Fred- 
ericksburg in order to retreat. Finding the woods 
on fire, Anderson pushed on to the Court House 
without resting en route, and as a result when the 
Fifth Corps reached Spottsylvania, it found the 
Confederates already in possessiou. The next day 
was spent in bringing both armies into position at 
the Court House, where Lee was protected by 
elaborate lines of entrenchments which took ad- 
vantage of every elevation of ground and formed a 
V-shaped fortress almost impregnable to ordinary 
assault, his rear being covered by the Po. Mean- 
while Sheridan, after a sharp tiff with Meade over 
his effectiveness in the Wilderness, had cut loose 
from the army on the first of his independent ex- 
peditions ; passing Lee's right flank he destroyed 
ten miles of railroad and large quantities of supplies 
and eventually penetrated to within six miles of 
Eichmond, where at Yellow Tavern he was over- 
taken by u Jeb" Stuart with Lee's entire cavalry 
force. In the battle which followed Stuart was 
killed and the Confederate horse overwhelmed and 
scattered, Sheridan even penetrating the outer line 
of the fortifications of Eichmond. Stopping for a 
few days with Butler, he rejoined Grant on May 24th, 
after the most successful cavalry raid of the war. 



228 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

While Sheridan was gathering laurels with his 
new command, ten days of sanguinary fighting had 
taken place at Spottsylvania. On May 9th and 10th 
there was entrenchment, observation and fighting all 
along the line in the course of which General Sedg- 
wick was killed, being succeeded in the command 
of the Sixth Corps by General H. G. Wright. At 
one time Hancock on the extreme right gained a posi- 
tion south of the Po which threatened to turn Lee's 
flank, but it was so isolated that he was soon with- 
drawn. On May 10th there were five assaults all 
along the line and one party, led by Upton, even 
penetrated the apex of Lee's position, but lack of 
support compelled its withdrawal, Upton winning 
a well-deserved promotion conferred by Grant him- 
self on the field of battle. The next day Hancock 
was moved to the centre and ordered to prepare for 
a daybreak assault on the Confederate centre — the 
famous Bloody Angle. 

In the midst of this interminable fighting with its 
ceaseless demands upon the commanding general 
for orders, supplies and organization, Grant found 
time to send two famous dispatches to the North 
which gave proof of the quality of the man and the 
determination of his purpose. Writing to Halleck 
on the morning of May 10th, reporting his position, 
he said, "I shall take no backward steps." The 
next day in farewell to his old friend, Washburne, 
who had been at his headquarters since the begin- 
ning of the campaign, he gave him another dispatch 
for Halleck, written in his own hand on the field of 



WITH THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC 221) 

battle, in which occurred the laconic expression, "I 
propose to fight it out ou this liue if it takes all 
summer." 

Hancock never displayed his leadership to greater 
advantage than on the morning of May 12th, when, 
in a drenching rain, he concentrated his troops on 
both sides of the Angle, and, charging shortly after 
half- past four in the darkness of the early morning, 
led his men over the entrenchments and in a short 
hand-to-hand grapple, took prisoners practically all 
of Johnson's division of E well's corps, including 
4,000 men, thirty pieces of artillery and two general 
officers. Having pierced the centre of Lee's posi- 
tion, Hancock charged over a mile until he found 
himself confronted by a strong line of works running 
across the base of the Angle to which Lee hurried 
with reinforcements gathered at every hand. Here 
throughout the entire day the fighting continued. 
Lee failed in every effort to retake the Angle and 
Hancock, even though aided by Wright, could not 
penetrate the new line of defense. At one time 
Hancock was practically driven out of the Angle, 
but his men reformed on the reverse side of the en- 
trenchments and soon compelled the enemy to with- 
draw, so that at nightfall the positions were the same 
as after Hancock's assault. It was the hardest and 
closest fighting of the war, and the crudest test of 
American manhood. 

In spite of Hancock's success, Grant had failed in 
his main purpose to break through Lee's centre, so 
as to roll up his flanks, and destroy the fighting 



230 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

morale of the army. During the next week the two 
armies were face to face at Spottsylvania although at 
times the heavy rain interfered with operations. At 
one time Grant moved two corps to the left, thinkiug 
thereby to cause such a conceutration of his forces 
as would weaken the centre, and then the Second 
Corps was hastily brought back to the Angle in the 
hope that it might repeat its success of the previous 
week ; but Lee was on the alert and this plan was 
defeated. Agaiu, each army had fought the other to 
a standstill and a new plan was inevitable. 

Once more Grant determined to move by the left 
flank and hoping to decoy Lee from his entrench- 
ments to the open field he ordered Hancock to march 
first with a gap of twenty miles between the Second 
Corps and the remainder of the army. In spite of 
this tempting bait, Lee proved the character of his 
generalship by declining to do what his adversary 
desired. A two days' march brought the army to 
the banks of the North Anna where they found the 
Confederate Army strougly posted on the south side 
of the river in two parallel lines of eutrenchments 
with flanks perfectly protected by swamp, thicket 
and stream. Hancock and Warren were successful 
in effecting a crossing of the river, but theu found 
themselves separated by Lee's army and blocked by 
entrenchments too strong to assault. It was a danger- 
ous position for the Army of the Potomac. Lee 
could have concentrated for an attack upon either 
flank which, in order to unite with the other, would 
have been obliged to cross the river twice in the face 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 231 

of the foe. Even Grant hesitated to order an assault 
upon an impregnable position under these condi- 
tions, and finally decided to resume the flanking 
movement, — what the soldiers had learned to call 
" sidling " toward Richmond. In a dispatch to the 
"War Department at this time Grant's confidence in 
the outcome is fully shown. " Lee's army is really 
whipped, the prisoners we now take show it, and 
the action of his army shows it unmistakably. A 
battle with them outside of entrenchments cannot 
be had." 

Withdrawing his army from its dangerous posi- 
tion, he marched along the north bank of the river 
to the Pamuukey, where after a hurried crossing he 
again found himself faced by the Army of Northern 
Virginia. 

While Grant was battling with Lee in a vain 
endeavor to force a decisive battle outside of Rich- 
mond, Butler had moved up the James River from 
Fortress Monroe in a flank attack on the capital of 
the Confederacy. He had seized and fortified City 
Point at the mouth of the Appomattox and had 
reached Bermuda Hundred, where he fortified him- 
self. Beauregard was in command of the Confeder- 
ate forces south of Richmond and at the beginning 
of Butler's expedition he had but 6,000 men with 
which to oppose over 30,000. A vigorous offensive 
movement could certainly have taken Petersburg 
and probably Richmond, but Butler moved so 
leisurely that Beauregard had ample opportunity to 
bring up from the South heavy reinforcements with 



232 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

which to block the movement. A battle was fought 
near Drewry's Bluff on May 16th, after which 
Butler withdrew to his fortifications at Bermuda 
Hundred where safe in a peninsula he was " bottled 
up " by a much inferior force. 

Realizing the ineffectiveness of this campaign, 
Grant ordered the Eighteenth Corps under General 
W. F. Smith to cross the James and to join Meade 
at Cold Harbor, where on June 1st the Army of 
the Potomac had concentrated. Here Lee had pre- 
pared elaborate lines of fortifications about six miles 
in extent from the Chickahominy on the right to a 
series of swamps on the left. Grant determined 
upon a frontal assault, and of all his military opera- 
tions, this determination has been most severely and 
justly criticized. His reasoning is easy to under- 
stand : Lee was now within reach of the fortifica- 
tions of Richmond which was but a few miles away. 
If his lines could have been broken at this point, a 
decisive victory would probably have ended the war. 
On the other hand, a frontal assault upon fortified 
lines, well-manned with artillery so that almost 
every section was covered by cross-fires, and pro- 
tected by a devoted army under an invincible chief, 
could only result in failure. The soldiers realized 
the desperation of the situation and nothing in the 
history of warfare is more tragic than the story of 
how these devoted men spent the night before the 
battle in writing their names and addresses on slips 
of paper which were then sewed into their blouses. 
The battle was fought without any systematic plan 



WITH THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC 233 

and almost without any reconnaissance of the 
enemy's lines. For six hours on the morning of 
June 3d the various corps commanders endeavored 
to reach the lines before them but with very little 
success, and when the day's fighting was over the 
Army of the Potomac had lost almost 10,000 men 
and had inflicted a loss of about one-tenth of 
that number. In his "Memoirs," Grant frankly 
admitted his mistake, — "I have always regretted 
that the last assault at Cold Harbor was ever 
made." 

It was full time to consider a change of plan. One 
month of constant hammering had cost the Army 
of the Potomac about 50,000 men, and while there 
had been heavy reinforcements, yet there can be no 
question but that the vigor of the army was seriously 
impaired. Those who had perished were veterans, 
while the newcomers were in some cases raw and 
untrained, and unable to accommodate themselves 
to the physical hardships of a soldier's life. More- 
over there had been a heavy mortality among 
officers and the men were no longer led with the 
dash and vigor of the earlier days of the campaign. 
The army needed rest, and, realizing its condition, 
Grant determined to march south of the James with- 
out another battle. 

While the two armies were facing each other at 
Cold Harbor, Hunter had led a strong column 
down the Shenandoah Valley and, after some minor 
successes, threatened Lynchburg, an importaut 
depot of supplies in western Virginia. To meet 



234 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

this unexpected invasion, Lee sent Breckinridge and 
Early to regain control of the Valley. Hunter, 
having exhausted his ammunition, retreated to 
West Virgiuia, thus leaving the way open for a 
Valley campaign. Meanwhile Grant had moved 
his army across the Chickahominy to the James, 
where in eight hours his engineers constructed 
a bridge of 101 pontoons over a river 2,100 feet 
wide. 

There can be no question but that Lee was 
completely outgeneraled by this last flanking move- 
ment, and indeed for three days he lost his foe. 
Expecting an advance on Richmond, south of the 
Chickahominy, Lee held his army north of the 
James. But Grant had crossed both rivers and 
had directed Smith to make a sudden attack upon 
Petersburg, the important railroad centre to the 
south of Richmond, which was then held by but 
2,500 Confederates. On June 15th Smith made his 
attack and gained some success. In the evening 
Hancock, who had been not properly advised as to 
the urgency of the operation, brought up the Second 
Corps. It was fortunate for the Confederacy that 
Beauregard recognized the emergency, even if Lee 
did not. During the night of June 15th he stripped 
Richmond of its soldiers and with Hoke's division 
from the Army of Northern Virginia assembled 
14,000 men for the defense of Petersburg. On June 
16th, 17ch and 18th, there was a series of vicious 
assaults, but again the entrenchments were a safe 
bulwark to the Confederates. By this time Lee, 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 235 

realizing that his enemy had passed south of the 
James, brought his own army south of Richmond 
and the Ariuy of the Potomac was again face to 
face with its old foe, and once more all advantages 
of position were with the latter. Grant now 
abandoned the policy of frontal attacks and in- 
stead prepared lines of entrenchments for a regular 
siege. 

There can be little question but that the results 
of the campaign thus far achieved were as disap- 
pointing to Grant as to the North. By his record 
as well as the gigantic preparations for the spring 
campaign, public opinion had been led to expect 
that there would soon be a sweeping and decisive 
victory which would end the struggle. Instead of 
the fulfilment of this expectation, there had been 
many indecisive conflicts and much slaughter, and 
in the end Lee seemed as unconquerable as ever, and 
had only been forced to the position where McClellan 
had found him two years before. " The immense 
slaughter of our brave men chills and sickens us 
all," wrote Gideon Welles in his diary, the day 
before the battle of Cold Harbor. " The hospitals 
are crowded with the thousands of mutilated and 
dying heroes who have poured out their blood for 
the Union cause." Two months later the Secretary 
confessed to an awakening apprehension that Grant 
is not equal to his task. " God grant that I may 
be mistaken, for the slaughtered thousands of my 
countrymen who have poured out their rich blood 
for three months on the soil of Virginia from the 



236 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Wilderness to Petersburg under his generalship can 
never be atoned in this world or the next if he 
without Sherman prove a failure." 

This increasing wave of criticism was based upon 
the conviction that Grant did not know how to 
manoeuvre and that his strategy was confined to the 
use of brute force. To the unthinking, there was 
abundant reason for this attitude in the succession 
of frontal assaults upon entrenchments, but the 
intelligent student of military history will find in 
these seven weeks of continuous fighting ample 
evidence of a strategy which came many times near 
to complete success. This campaign might almost 
be characterized as a series of unfulfilled possibilities. 
Thus at the Wilderness, if Burnside had arrived at 
the dawn of the second day, who can doubt but that 
Hancock's attack would have overwhelmed Hill 
before Longstreet had arrived. Again, at Spottsyl- 
vania, with proper information of the nature of the 
ground, Hancock's position south of the Po might 
have developed into a grand flanking movement 
which would have forced Lee into the open. Even 
at Cold Harbor, where Grant's strategy was much 
criticized by his subordinates, it is authoritatively 
stated that Lee had not a single regiment in reserve, 
and if his lines had been pierced he probably would 
have been disastrously routed. It was to the Army 
of the James, however, that the greatest oppor- 
tunities were presented and wasted ; in May, Butler 
had the advantage of a complete surprise and for 
two days Richmond was practically in his grasp. 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 2.37 

Again in June, by all the canons of warfare, Peters- 
burg should have been taken without the delay and 
slaughter of a nine months' siege. 

These continued breakdowns of well-conceived 
plans suggest that Grant was not receiving the 
proper support from his subordinates, and there is 
strong reason to believe that the Army of the 
Potomac, in spite of the fine patriotism and courage 
of the rank and file, had not yet learned how to pull 
together. Many of the generals were in close touch 
with leading Senators and Representatives and the 
previous traditions of their service had bred feelings 
of jealousy where there should have been coopera- 
tion and friendship. When in the middle of this 
campaign, General James H. Wilson arrived at 
headquarters from the West, he frankly told Grant 
that in his judgment it would be a good thing if 
Parker, the Indian aide, could scalp a dozen major- 
generals. 1 After Cold Harbor, Wilson narrates 
how Upton, one of the most brilliant fighters of the 
army, said to him : "I am sorry to say I have seen 
but little generalship during the campaign. Some 
of the corps commanders are not fit to be corporals. 
Lazy and indifferent, they will not even ride along 
their lines ; yet, without hesitancy, they will order 
us to attack the enemy, no matter what their posi- 
tion and numbers." This comment aids in the 
understanding of Grant's dependence upon Hancock 
and Sheridan for offensive operations. In his pre- 

'See " Under the Old Flag," by James Harrison Wilson, Vol. 
I, p. 400. 



238 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

vious experiences in the West, he had always trusted 
details to his subordinates, sketching the general 
orders and then relying upon his commanders, — and 
these two now proved themselves most capable in 
independent command. 

Again there was notorious ill-feeling among many 
of the generals. Meade, whose temper was never of 
the easiest, was so exhausted by the responsibilities 
of his position that he was on ill terms with almost 
every one except Grant, and at times his irritability 
lest Sheridan should gain a promotion over himself 
brought an unusual strain even into the headquarters. 
Butler had quarreled with both of his corps com- 
manders, whom he blamed for the failure of his 
operations. The summer of 1864 was the gloomiest 
period in the history of the war for the Union. 
The successive discouragements affected the money- 
market and when the price of gold, in July, touched 
285, it evidenced the sensitiveness of the financial 
barometer. Lincoln had been renominated for the 
Presidency, but there was disaffection in his 
Cabinet and a strong feeling even among his sup- 
porters that he could not be reelected ; Sherman 
had not yet succeeded in his Atlanta cam- 
paign ; foreign complications, especially in Mex- 
ico, had culminated in the French invasion, and 
there was an increasing conviction that with all 
these dangers the great republic was on the verge 
of disintegration. 

Amid all these problems, Grant steadfastly pursued 
the course he had marked out for himself. With 



WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC 239 

few complaints and with a complete absence of the 
bitterness that characterized McClellau's dealings 
with the government, concealing his disappoint- 
ment at the failure of his plans he pursued his one 
chief object, — the destruction of the military power 
of the Confederacy. Rhodes concludes that at this 
time his misfortunes drove him again to excessive 
drink and there is at least much army gossip which 
points in that direction. General Smith, whose 
ability fitted him for high command but whose 
quarrelsome disposition proved his incapacity to 
pull in harness, has charged that Butler supplied 
Grant with drink and thereby obtained a secret hold 
which was used to secure his retention in command 
of the Army of the James. It is certain that Grant 
issued orders relieving Butler and giving his post to 
Smith, and that afterward, upon Butler's insistent 
demand, the order was revoked and Smith sent to 
the rear. The evidence at hand, however, points to 
an entirely different reason for this revocation. 
The immediate necessity was for the reelection of 
Lincoln which was far more important than even 
military success, and it is evident that if Butler, an 
aggressive leader of the War Democracy, had been 
sent home in disgrace, it would have added tremen- 
dously to the political difficulties of the administra- 
tion. A mere hint from Lincoln, to whom Grant 
was now most loyally attached, would account for a 
reversal of the order far better than a " secret hold," 
and this theory is further substantiated by the fact 
that six months later, after the election, when the 



240 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

necessity for caution no longer existed, Butler was 
removed from command. 1 

It was a dark hour in the history of the Republic, 
but fortunately the dawn was near. 

'See George M. Wolfson, " Butler's Relations with Grant and 
the Army of the James in 1864 " in South Atlantic Quarterly, 
October, 1911. 



CHAPTEE XI 

PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 

"I begin to see it. You will succeed. God 
bless you all." Such was the message of Liucoln 
to his trusted general, when he learned of the 
crossing of the James. It marks the beginning of 
the second stage of Grant's campaign against Lee, 
in which the object and methods were widely differ- 
ent from the earlier ones. If Grant could not win 
a decisive victory outside of Richmond and so 
destroy the fighting power of the enemy, then 
obviously the proper course of action was to hold 
Eichmond and Lee's army in a vise-like grip while 
the other armies of the Union conquered the sources 
of supplies and contracting, like the anaconda, 
would eventually strangle the Confederacy. This 
was the policy of the next nine months, and that it 
was carried on with so complete a success must be 
attributed to the quality of Grant's patriotism which 
made him willing to endure criticism and reproach, 
while his subordinates were winning laurels for 
themselves in environing fields of action. 

Petersburg is an outpost of Eichmond, located 
twenty-two miles to the south, on the lower bank of 
the Appomattox, which is navigable for large 
vessels up to that point. At this time it had a 



242 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

population of less than twenty thousand, but its 
importance was derived from the fact that it was a 
railroad centre. From the east came the Norfolk 
and Petersburg Railroad now under Union control, 
but from the south came the important Weldon 
Railroad connecting with Raleigh, Goldsboro and 
Wilmington, the latter one of the few remaining 
Atlantic ports available for blockade-runners with 
their much-needed supplies ; to the west ran the 
Southside Railroad to Lynchburg, and the food for 
the Army of Northern Virginia, as well as the city 
of Richmond, was brought in large measure over 
these two roads. In addition to the connecting 
railroad from Petersburg there were two other rail- 
roads to Richmond, still under Confederate control ; 
one ran southwest to Danville and Greensboro, 
crossing the Southside Railroad at Burkesville, and 
the other ran northwest to Gordonsville, connecting 
with the rich Valley of the Shenandoah. It was 
evident that the cutting of these railroads meant 
famine in Richmond and eventually surrender, and 
the strategy of the concluding campaigns is based 
upon an appreciation of this situation. 

In the opening mouths of the siege, both armies 
were reduced in numbers. Although Lee had 
received heavy reinforcements during his retreat 
south and had now united with Beauregard, he had 
detached over 25,000 men for operations in the 
Shenandoah under Early, and there were times 
when the total force under his immediate command 
was less than 50,000. Likewise Grant had been 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 243 

compelled to provide for the defense of Washington 
and eventually for an offensive movement under 
Sheridan, so as to reduce his main army to less than 
90,000. Notwithstanding the exhaustion of his 
forces, he was not content with the slow processes 
of siege. The week after the assault on Petersburg, 
the Second and Sixth Corps were moved to the left 
in an effort to cut the Weldon road, but this move- 
ment was not well conducted and Hill thrust him- 
self between the two corps indicting considerable 
loss. At the same time, Wilson led two cavalry 
divisions around Petersburg and destroyed large 
sections of the Weldon, Lynchburg and Southside 
Railroads. Further offensive operations were 
blocked by the heat of midsummer ; for a period of 
forty-six days there was no rain and the soldiers 
suffered greatly. 

It was at this time that Lieutenant- Colonel Henry 
Pleasants, of the Ninth Corps, conceived the idea of 
a mine for the purpose of forcing an opening in the 
entrenchments of Petersburg. His regiment was 
composed in large measure of miners of the Schuyl- 
kill region. For four weeks his men were engaged in 
constructing a vast gallery, over 510 feet in length, 
with branch galleries under the Confederate lines 
containing eight magazines, each with 1,000 pounds 
of powder. As the work was in front of the Ninth 
Corps, Burnside was placed in charge of the opera- 
tion. Originally he selected Ferrero's negro division 
to make the assault, but as these troops were raw, 
this arrangement was not approved by Meade and 



244 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Grant. By the singular device of the lot among 
the other division commanders, Burnside then se- 
lected Ledlie's division for the charge, a choice 
which proved an evil chance. Meanwhile Grant 
had sent the Second Corps with the cavalry to the 
north side of the James intending to divert Lee's 
attention from the point of attack. After some 
heavy skirmishing, the Second Corps returned to 
the lines of Petersburg in time to assist in the 
assault. The Confederate engineers anticipated an 
attack by mining, but their counter-mine was on a 
different level from the gallery of attack, and so the 
plan was not discovered. 

It was intended to spring the mine at half-past 
three on the morning of July 30th, but a defect in 
the fuse delayed the operation until two brave 
officers entered the gallery and changed the splicing. 
It was twenty minutes of five when the explosion 
occurred, making a crater one hundred and fifty 
feet long, sixty feet wide and twenty-five feet deep, 
located about one hundred yards from Burnside' s 
line. Up to this moment the plan was completely 
successful ; not only were the lines broken, but also 
the battery, and three hundred men in Elliott's 
salient had been buried in the debris. For a time 
the unexpectedness of the blow had paralyzed the 
defenders. This was the time for vigorous offensive 
operations. It was expected that Ledlie would 
lead his men through the opening and take pos- 
session of Cemetery Hill beyond, an elevation 
which commanded Petersburg. 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 245 

But Ledlie did not accompany his division and was 
in no position to give directions to his men. The 
assaulting column rushed into the crater and stayed 
there for over an hour without formation or leader- 
ship. While this mass of men was huddled in and 
about the opening which engineering skill had 
made, the great opportunity was passing. Lee had 
brought up reinforcements in men and artillery 
and had reformed his position in the rear so as 
to make it unassailable. Eventually Grant went 
in person and on foot to the scene of the assault 
and found so much disorder and confusion aud 
so little perception of the next thing to be done, 
that he ordered the column to withdraw. Another 
golden chance was thus wasted, this time at the cost 
of 3,500 men, and one of the most wisely conceived 
enterprises of the siege was brought to naught. The 
practical effect of this disaster was the retirement 
of Burnside and Ledlie from active command, and in 
the later stages of the campaign, the Ninth Corps 
was commanded by General John G. Parke. 

During the next four months public interest 
centered in the Valley of the Shenandoah. At the 
time of the grand advance in May, as a collateral 
movement, Sigel had led a column southward in the 
Valley, which had been defeated at Newmarket. 
General Hunter was then appointed in his place and 
in June he advanced with some success, defeating a 
strong force of Confederates under Jones at Pied- 
mont, and threatening Lynchburg. To save this 
important city, Lee had detached Early from his 



246 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

main army at Cold Harbor and Hunter, who 
had exhausted his ammunition, retreated to West 
Virginia. This exposed the fertile Valley of the 
Shenandoah to the Confederates and Early at once 
started toward the Potomac upon what proved to 
be the last invasion of the North. It was Lee's 
hope that this invasion, like that of Jackson two 
years earlier, would lead to the detachment of so 
much of Grant's army as would compel him to 
retire from before Eichmond ; or else would force 
another hurried attack upon impregnable fortifica- 
tions in the vain desire to hasten a conclusion of the 
struggle. That he did not succeed in either of these 
plans may be attributed to the indomitable temper 
of his opponent. But the audacity of the move- 
ment and its early successes aroused all the latent 
apprehensiveness of the North. 

In the first week of July, Early crossed the 
Potomac seizing abundant provisions and laying 
the rich towns of Maryland under requisitions of 
money and supplies. At the Mouocacy Eiver, he 
overwhelmed a small force under General Lew 
Wallace who was defending the road to Baltimore, 
and pushing south on July 11th he came within 
striking distance of Washington. The capital had 
been stripped of defenders for Grant's campaign, and 
there were only raw levies and home guards for its 
defense, but when Grant learned of Early's invasion, 
he had ordered the Sixth Corps to the North and 
also the Nineteenth Corps which had been oper- 
ating in the West. Fortunately these veteran di- 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 247 

visions arrived on the same day that Early 
approached the capital by the Roekville road. 
In the presence of this overwhelming force, the 
Confederates retreated westward and across the 
Potomac, but their cavalry continued a series of 
damaging raids in one of which McCauslaud burnt 
the beautiful town of Chambersburg. Meanwhile, 
there were enough soldiers in Maryland to have 
overwhelmed Early's entire army, but they were 
divided among four military departments and there 
was little cooperation among their commanders. 
The emergency brought Grant from Petersburg and 
after a hasty review of the situation, he consolidated 
all of the forces of the Shenandoah, making a work- 
ing force of 22,000 infantry and 8,000 cavalry with 
Sheridan in sole control. 

This happy inspiration brought into independent 
command one of the few born soldiers of the war. 
It is difficult to imagine Sheridan anywhere but in 
the saddle, where his courage, fire and sagacity made 
him an invincible leader. After six weeks of pre- 
liminary maneuvering he won a decisive victory 
at the Opequon on September 19th. "We have 
just sent them whirling through Winchester, and 
we are after them to-morrow" was his message an- 
nouncing the victory. Three days later at Fisher's 
Hill he won another battle, of which sixty guns and 
a thousand prisoners were the trophies. Upon re- 
ceipt of the tidings of these disasters, Lee detached 
Kershaw's division and a strong force of cavalry 
from his own weakened army in order to reinforce 






248 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Early. After bis victories Sheridan had encamped 
his men at Cedar Creek, and had been instructed to 
make arrangements for the return of the Sixth Corps 
to Petersburg. On October 15th the business of his 
department took him to Washington for consulta- 
tion, and Early, although ignorant of the absence of 
his opponent, determined to attack with his increased 
forces during this time. 

At half-past four on the morning of October 19th 
the Confederate army burst upon the camp at Cedar 
Creek and in a few minutes the surprise was com- 
plete. Crook's division and the Nineteenth Corps 
were forced out of their camps before they had 
formed in line of battle, and while the Sixth Corps 
retained its formation it could do little more than 
cover the retreat. By nine o'clock Early had won 
a complete victory and was in possession of the 
Union camps with over 1,400 prisoners. Sheridan 
had spent the previous night at Winchester, twelve 
miles away, and being aroused by the sounds of 
cannon he rode out at once to the field of battle. 
Nothing in military history is more dramatic than 
the concluding incidents of the day. Rallying the 
fugitives and appealing to the stragglers, he brought 
them back to the battle-line which was still gallantly 
maintained by Wright with the Sixth Corps. Re- 
forming his men and taking advantage of the 
disorder of his enemy, some of whom had been 
plundering the captured camps in a search after 
much-needed clothing, he led his troops once more 
to the attack and, in the late afternoon, regained 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 249 

not only the captured cannon but also a large por- 
tion of the guns of the enemy. 

This sweeping victory ended the hard fighting in 
the Valley and a few weeks later the remnants of 
Early's discouraged infantry were transferred to 
Richmond. After destroying the supplies in the 
Valley, Sheridan sent the Sixth Corps to Grant. In 
February he marched up the Valley with 10,000 
cavalry and after defeating Early's weakened force 
at Waynesboro, and destroying the railroad he rode 
around Richmond and rejoined Grant in time to 
participate in the closing campaign. 

Sheridan's experience is an apt illustration of the 
complete success of Grant's extensive plans for the 
conclusion of the war. In August, Farragut had 
made a brilliant attack upon the forts of Mobile 
Bay, thereby closing the harbor. In the next month 
Sherman marched around Atlanta and in several 
pitched battles so completely defeated Hood, who 
had succeeded Johnston, that on September 3d 
Washington was electrified with the message : 
"Atlanta is ours, and fairly won." These vic- 
tories were the visible proof of the success of the 
war and in November Lincoln was triumphantly re- 
elected, having carried all of the Northern states 
except New Jersey, Delaware and Kentucky. After 
taking Atlanta, Sherman sent Thomas back to Ten- 
nessee in order to watch Hood who was contemplat- 
ing a Northern invasion, and with 60,000 men, the 
picked soldiers of the West, he severed his com- 
munication with the North aud led his men through 



250 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Georgia, taking Savannah on December 22d and 
thus piercing the Confederacy. The Western cam- 
paign culminated in the middle of December, when 
Thomas at Nashville not only defeated Hood, but 
so overwhelmed his army that it practically disap- 
peared as an aggressive force. 

While Sherman and Sheridan were winning the 
victories which made certain Lincoln's reelection, 
Grant held Lee and his army in the lines from 
Petersburg to Richmond. He was not idle during 
these six months, but the condition of his army and 
the large detachment necessary for Sheridan's suc- 
cess made impossible a strong offensive campaign. 
Moreover, it must not be forgotten that Grant's 
command of all the armies of the Union made great 
demands upon both his time and his energy. As 
Sheridan's army was within his own circle of opera- 
tions, he gave a close oversight to this general. 
When Sherman recommended the march to the sea 
it was to Grant that he looked for the requisite au- 
thority and support. When weather conditions 
forced Thomas to hesitate before attacking Hood, 
Grant, dreading another invasion of Kentucky, hur- 
ried to Washington and dispatched Logan to take 
command, — a change which fortunately was averted 
by Thomas's complete success. Without detracting 
in the slightest degree from the reputation of these 
great lieutenants, it is but just that some measure of 
the credit for their decisive victories should be given 
to the commander in whose far-seeing plans they had 
leading parts. 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 251 

During the autumn of 1864 and the succeeding 
winter the plan of operations at Petersburg was easy 
to understand. Lee held strong lines of entrench- 
ments about thirty miles in extent, so as to cover the 
railroads as well as the two cities. Without attack- 
ing the entrenchments, as opportunity offered, Grant 
sent out flanking expeditious both to the North and 
to the South, intent upon stretching Lee's lines to 
the breaking point. In August Hancock crossed 
the James and threatened the forts surrounding 
Richmond. At the same time Warren led the Fifth 
Corps around to the south and seized a portion 
of the Weldon Road. In the next month Ord 
was moved north of the James and captured Fort 
Harrison. At the same time Warren and Parke 
led another expedition around the left flank and 
captured some entrenchments there. These move- 
ments not only extended the Union line but pre- 
vented the detachment of reinforcements to Early, 
and thus contributed to the success of Sheridan's 
campaign. 

Late in October a strong force was sent around 
to the left in an attempt to seize the Southside Rail- 
road, then the only Confederate railroad to Peters- 
burg, but Lee massed so heavily on his right to de- 
feat this movement that after a brisk engagement 
at Hatcher's Run, Grant ordered the withdrawal of 
the expedition. During the winter there was ample 
opportunity for rest and the drilling of raw recruits. 
Thousands of the slightly wounded returned to the 
army and the success in other fields gave oppor- 



252 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

tuuity for reinforcements from the pacified sections. 
Gradually the inevitable success of Grant's plan 
became apparent and the fate of Richmond was 
certain. 

The once powerful Confederacy was tottering to 
its fall. It was not so much because of lack of men 
as the exhaustion of supplies and the means of 
transportation. The patient and efficient work of 
the Federal navy had so maintained the blockade 
that the necessaries of warfare could not be obtained 
from abroad, and the lack of manufacturing facili- 
ties in the South made it impossible to supply the 
need from domestic production. One of ' ' Jeb ' ' 
Stuart's men has said that there were but four com- 
modities "with which the South was plentifully 
supplied, viz., tobacco, cotton, money and horses." 
Money was supplied by printing presses of the Con- 
federacy, while the others were native products of 
the soil. The destruction of the lines of transpor- 
tation and the difficulties of obtaining rails, loco- 
motives and cars had led to a breakdown in the 
commissary department. When Sherman marched 
through Georgia, planning to live from the country, 
his men found it a land of plenty, but meanwhile 
Lee's heroic army was almost starving in the 
trenches at Petersburg. Gradually the narrowing 
lines of the armies for the Union forced extreme 
privation upon the contracted area of the Confed- 
eracy. During its last winter sugar was $20 a 
pound, flour from $500 to $1,000 per barrel and a 
pair of boots cost $200. Even at Lee's table meat 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 253 

was served but twice a week and the general fare 
was boiled cabbage, sweet potatoes aud corn pone. 

Grant early recoguized that the Confederacy was 
beiug starved out. Writing to Washburne on 
August 16, 1864, he said : " The rebels have now in 
their ranks their last men. The little boys and old 
men are guarding prisoners, railroad bridges, and 
forming a good part of their garrisons for entrenched 
positions. A man lost by them cannot be replaced. 
They have robbed the cradle and the grave equally 
to get their present force. Besides what they lose 
in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now 
losing from desertions and other causes at least one 
regiment per day. With this drain upon them the 
end is visible, if we will but be true to ourselves." 

During the winter of 1864-1865 Grant spent most 
of the time at City Point, at the junction of the 
James and Appomattox Rivers, where in winter- 
quarters he kept in constant touch with each phase 
of the campaign. His wife and children visited 
him there for a time, and also Lincoln. In Decem- 
ber an unsuccessful expedition was sent against 
Fort Fisher which commanded the harbor of Wil- 
mington in North Carolina, — a favorite resort of 
blockade runners. As Butler assumed the charge 
of this expedition, the usual fiasco resulted, thus 
causing his removal from the command of the 
Army of the James. But one month later the same 
soldiers, then under the skilful leadership of Gen- 
eral Terry, captured Fort Fisher, thereby closing 
the harbor. Meanwhile Sherman advanced from 



254 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

Savannah and, piercing the Carolinas, had com- 
pelled the evacuation of Columbia, Charleston and 
Ealeigh. To halt his irresistible advance, Davis 
was obliged to summon from retirement General 
Joseph Johnston, whom he cordially disliked, to 
take command of the remnants of Hood's army and 
such other fragments as could be gathered together 
to resist Sherman. Following his usual policy of 
concentration, Grant now ordered Stoneman with 
Thomas's cavalry to threaten Virginia from the 
southwest, while Schofield was detached from 
Thomas and sent to Wilmington to join Sherman. 
The Northern lines were fast closing around Lee's 
devoted band and, weakened by privation and con- 
stant campaigning, it could not long avert the final 
disaster. 

There was no help to be obtained from the civil 
counsels of the Confederacy in this emergency. 
The frequent issues of paper money had so de- 
bauched the currency that industry had become 
completely disorganized. In January, the Confed- 
erate Congress made Lee the Commander-in-Chief, 
giving him practically supreme power, and two 
months later, on his recommendation, an act was 
passed authorizing the enlistment of slaves as 
soldiers. Previous to this time Lee had advised 
the civil administration that he could not long 
maintain the lines before Eichmond, and had sug- 
gested that the capital should be abandoned, and 
that his army, joining with that of Johnston, should 
endeavor to overwhelm Sherman before Grant could 






PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 255 

arrive. In the field of military speculation, it 
would be interesting to consider the chances of suc- 
cess for this plan, and also the effect of such a dar- 
ing stroke upon the endurance of the North. Either 
the obstinacy of President Davis or the muddy con- 
dition of the roads, or both, postponed its execu- 
tion, and before the opportunity was utilized, Grant 
had resumed the offensive. 

Early in March on the eve of Lincoln's second 
inauguration, Grant had been advised that Lee de- 
sired an interview with him. He reported this 
request to Stanton, who replied with the instruc- 
tions of the President, that he should hold no con- 
ference with Lee except upon military matters, all 
political questions being reserved for Lincoln's de- 
cision. Shortly after the President came to City 
Point, where presently arrived Sherman whose 
army was then in North Carolina. There also 
came Sheridan from the Shenandoah Valley, and 
for the first and only time in the history of the war 
these four mighty leaders of the North were to- 
gether. The anticipated arrival of Sherman's army 
would give Grant an overwhelming preponderance 
of numbers. But without waiting for his great 
lieutenant, Grant determined to give the Army of 
the Potomac a filial chance to end the struggle, 
without the assistance of the soldiers from the West. 

There can be no doubt as to Grant's confidence in 
the outcome of the next operations. Writing to 
Dr. Kittoe on February 24, 1865, he said: "In 
three weeks more I do not believe there will be a 



256 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

Eebel Army in the field capable of resisting the 
advance of 10,000 cavalry. This is my candid 
judgment. Only I may, in view of the bad roads 
that may be expected during the next month, fix 
the time for this final triumph a little too short." 
As a matter of fact, it was just over six weeks 
when he received the surrender of Lee's army. 

At the end of March Graut had about 116,000 
men, including Sheridan's cavalry, under his im- 
mediate command. The Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia had been reduced to 52,000 effectives, defend- 
ing a line of entrenchments which, from constant 
stretching to the south in order to face flanking 
movements, was now thirty-seven miles in extent. 
The plans for the concluding campaign were most 
carefully prepared. Grant's orders are an apt il- 
lustration of his military prescience. On March 
24th he advised each commander of the plan of 
operations to be inaugurated five days later, and in 
conclusion gave warning that the enemy might 
come out from his lines to attack the moving col- 
umns. Some weeks before he had notified each 
commander to be on the lookout for an offensive 
movement to break the lines at Petersburg, and on 
March 26th Lee, concentrating a heavy force under 
Gordon, made a sudden dash at Fort Stedman, in 
the centre of the Ninth Corps. This gallant sortie 
was for a time successful, but in a few hours the at- 
tack was repulsed and the Confederates were driven 
back with a loss of 2,000 prisoners. Moreover, tak- 
ing advantage of the weakening of the defensive 



PETEESBUKG AND APPOMATTOX 257 

lines to form the aggressive columns, Wright and 
Humphreys, who now commanded the Second Corps, 
captured the entrenched picket-line in front of the 
left of the Army of the Potomac. The net result of 
Lee's final offensive operation was a complete de- 
feat. 

The strategy of Grant's last campaign was fault- 
less, and the execution perfect. Leaving about 
one-half of his army under tested commanders who 
had developed in large measure under his own eye, 
— Weitzel, Ord, Parke and Wright,— to face the en- 
trenched lines of the Confederates, he moved the 
Second and Fifth Corps, together with the cavalry, 
to his extreme left, and placing this detachment 
under the command of Sheridan, he ordered him to 
break the line of the Southside Eailroad. At first 
Grant had in contemplation another cavalry raid 
and had even prepared orders for the cavalry to 
join Sherman in North Carolina. But when Sheri- 
dan protested that the time had come for a finishing 
blow, Grant explained that these orders were a 
blind to be used if circumstances made it necessary ; 
that his own intention was to end the matter at 
once. On March 29th the turning movement began 
and by nightfall the cavalry had reached Dinwiddie 
Court House. Five Forks was an important cross- 
roads on Lee's extreme right protecting the line of 
the railroad. Thither Lee hurried Pickett with 
7,000 infantry and Fitzhugh Lee with an equal 
number of cavalry. On March 31st there was a 
hard day's fighting on the road from Five Forks to 



258 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

the Court House, but Warren's advance with the 
Fifth Corps compelled Pickett's retreat to his en- 
trenched lines. On the next day the decisive battle 
of the campaign was fought at Five Forks. Sheri- 
dan struck first with his cavalry, and with admir- 
able skill dismounted some of his men so as to en- 
gage the enemy at close range. Meanwhile Warren 
brought up the Fifth Corps against Pickett's left, 
and in the late afternoon the Confederates were 
routed in one of the most sweeping victories of the 
war. Five thousand prisoners were proof of the 
victory and as Pickett retreated to the north, the 
coveted railroad, now the main artery of the Con- 
federacy, was brought within Sheridan's grasp. Id 
the moment of victory Sheridan relieved Warren of 
command on the ground that he had been slow to 
attack, a charge which afterward gave rise to a 
military investigation in which Warren was vindi- 
cated. 

With keen anxiety, Grant awaited the news from 
his left and when the tidings of the overwhelming 
victory came, there was a scene of rejoicing at his 
headquarters such as had not been witnessed since 
the beginning of the war. Eealizing that Lee must 
now evacuate Petersburg, the first fear was that his 
movement might be commenced at once thereby en- 
abling the enemy to concentrate against Sheridan's 
advanced force. Instantly Grant sent out orders 
for a night bombardment all along the line, and 
from ten o'clock until midnight the thunder of the 
guns proclaimed the alertness of his forces. At 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 259 

four o'clock on Sunday morning, April 2d, Parke, 
Wright and Humphreys led their columns to a gen- 
eral assault. Now the advanced positions which 
had been won the preceding week proved of in- 
estimable advantage, and by seven o'clock the line 
of entrenchments was broken and Petersburg, the 
once invincible citadel of the Confederacy, had be- 
come untenable. 

Jefferson Davis was attending the Episcopal serv- 
ice in St. Paul's Church when he received Lee's 
message that his lines were broken, and that Rich- 
mond must be evacuated by nightfall. Placing 
Gordon in command of his rear guard, Lee ordered 
his men to concentrate at Amelia Court House, 
south of the Appomattox and about thirty-five 
miles to the west of Petersburg. In the early hours 
of April 3d Ewell led the last of the Confederates 
from the capital, and within a few hours Weitzel 
had taken possession of Richmond, in the name of 
the Union. At about the same hour Petersburg 
was surrendered to Parke and Wright, and the long 
siege was over. 

It is difficult to narrate the story of the retreat of 
the Army of Northern Virginia without a genuine 
feeling of sympathy for the brave men into whose 
souls destiny had driven the bitterness of defeat. 
Morris Schaff, in "The Sunset of the Confederacy," 
has written a prose poem of warfare which will help 
to immortalize to later generations the closing hours 
of Lee's brave army. Many things went wrong in 
Lee's calculations. By April 4th he had concen- 



260 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

trated his army, now less than 37,000, at Amelia 
Court House where he expected to have found sup- 
plies. But his orders to Eichmond lacked clear- 
ness and the trains which should have carried food 
and forage had been used instead to carry off to 
Danville the civil officers and archives of the Con- 
federacy. Stern necessity therefore compelled him 
to halt for a day while food was being collected. 

Meanwhile Sheridan had not rested after his vic- 
tory at Five Forks. He was pushing forward in 
pursuit of Pickett's retreating forces when he re- 
ceived word of the evacuation of Petersburg. 
Speeding west along roads parallel with the retreat- 
ing Confederates, he seized Jetersville on April 4th, 
where he fortified lines eight miles south of Amelia 
Court House, commanding the Danville Eailroad. 
The next day he was joined by Humphreys aud 
Griffin with the Second and Fifth Corps, and thus 
an overwhelming force was planted across Lee's 
direct line of retreat. The road to Danville being 
blocked, Lee now determined to march westward to 
Lynchburg. Starting on the night of April 5th, he 
passed around the Union position, heading toward 
Eice's Station. Meade lost several hours by march- 
ing toward Amelia Court House, but when the new 
direction of the retreat was discovered, his army 
quickly pursued. At Sailor's Creek, Ewell stopped 
to engage the Sixth Corps in order to protect the 
trains, but Sheridan with his cavalry cut in behind 
the line of retreat, and eventually Ewell' s whole 
force was obliged to surrender. The trophies of 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX '261 

the day were 6,000 prisoners aiid several general 
officers. After this disaster Lee reorganized his 
fast-diminishing army into two corps, with Gordon 
and Longstreet in command, and crossing to the 
north side of the Appomattox proceeded west on 
the Lynchburg Pike. Grant now divided his army. 
The Second and Sixth Corps, with Meade in com- 
mand, followed Lee on the direct line of retreat, 
while Sheridan, with the cavalry and Griffin and 
Ord, hastened along the south bank of the river, by 
way of Walker's Church. Sheridan had the shorter 
line to Appomattox Court House and he pushed the 
advance with so much vigor that on the evening 
of April 8th his cavalry took possession of the 
station, seizing four train loads of provisions which 
had come from Lynchburg to meet Lee's starving 
army. Scarcely had Sheridan seized the Lynch- 
burg Pike, before he saw Gordon, with the advance 
of the Confederates, approaching from the east, and 
although Sheridan was without infantry he deter- 
mined to hold his position, sending word to Ord 
and Griffin to make a forced march to his support. 

The morning disclosed Lee's desperate condition. 
Sheridan with the cavalry blocked further advance 
to the west. Meade, with Humphreys and Wright, 
was close in pursuit of the rear. There was a 
chance that the cavalry might be driven away be- 
fore the supporting infantry could arrive and, true 
to his military instincts, Lee resolved to try that 
chance. Gordon was sent against Sheridan, while 
Longstreet, two miles in the rear, formed in line 



262 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

of battle against Meade. The last charge of the 
Confederacy was conducted with the usual dash and 
spirit of its devoted soldiery. If they had had noth- 
ing to face but cavalry the way of retreat might 
have been won, but when the opening skirmish was 
concluded and the cavalry had commenced to re- 
tire, their places were taken by the long lines of 
blue infantry. With incredible devotion, Ord and 
Griffin had marched thirty miles in the preceding 
day and night and like a mighty wave advanced 
across the pike to crush the last hope of the Con- 
federacy. Outflanked, outnumbered and outgen- 
eraled, Gordon sent to Lee this despairing message : 
"Tell General Lee that my command has been 
fought to a frazzle, and I fear I can do nothing un- 
less I am heavily supported by Longstreet's Corps." 
It was this message which brought from Lee the 
pathetic exclamation, — " Then there is nothing left 
me but to go and see General Grant, and I had 
rather die a thousand deaths." 

During the final week of the life of the Army of 
Northern Virginia, Grant's generalship was never 
displayed to better advantage. From the moment 
that Lee had abandoned the fortified lines, Grant 
realized that henceforth the Confederate Army was 
his only true objective point. Without turning 
aside to enter Richmond, so hardly won and with 
so great cost, he hurried his columns in an im- 
mediate pursuit of the retreating foe, and himself 
accompanied first one corps and then another, 
giving personal direction to every detail of the 



PETERSBURG AND ArPOMATTOX 263 

advance. On the evening of April 5th, when Lee 
was at Amelia Court House and Sheridan was at 
Jetersville, the latter felt that Meade's orders for 
the next day would swing the army too much to 
the north and thereby give Lee a chance to escape. 
He hastily sent a dispatch to Grant describing the 
situation on the battle line and concluding, — "I 
wish you were here yourself." Although it was 
then quite dark, Grant and his staff made a night 
ride of almost twenty miles, so close to the enemy's 
lines that there was imminent danger of capture, 
in order that he might take personal charge of the 
work. As a result, the line of march was changed, 
thus paving the way for the decisive victory at 
Sailor's Creek on the next day. 

After Ewell had surrendered, Sheridan sent a 
report to Grant in w r hich he described the dis- 
organization of the eueniy, ending with these 
words, — "If the thing is pressed, I think that- 
Lee will surrender." Grant forwarded this mes- 
sage to Lincoln who instantly replied, — "Let the 
thing be pressed." 

On April 7th, Lee had escaped to the north bank 
of the Appomattox, but Meade with two corps was 
in close pursuit, and Sheridan with the cavalry 
and the left wing of the army was on the south 
bank, but had control of the shorter road to Appo- 
mattox Station. Grant had been talking with some 
of the prisoners of Sailor's Creek who had told him 
of the demoralization of Lee's army, — in particular, 
Ewell was quoted as saying that for every man 



264 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

killed after this in the war somebody was respon- 
sible, and it would be little better than murder. 
Realizing that pride might prevent Lee from mak- 
ing the first step in the negotiations, Grant took the 
initiative and on April 7th sent Lee a letter asking 
for surrender. 1 

When this letter was delivered to Lee he was on 
the Lynchburg pike in full expectation of receiving 
supplies at Appomattox and without knowledge 
that Sheridan was outstripping him in the pursuit. 
There can be little doubt bat that even in this ex- 
tremity Lee still hoped to make good his escape to 
the mountains, and to effect a possible junction with 
Johnston. He replied, however, to Grant's letter, 
asking for terms but without halting his retreat. 
On April 8th Grant wrote again, stating that peace 
was his great desire and that consequently he would 
insist upon but one condition, viz., that those sur- 
rendered should be disqualified for further service 
uutil properly exchanged. 

On the evening of April 8th Grant was with 
Meade's column and was suffering from a severe 
headache, the result of his exertions of the previous 
week. About midnight he received Lee's reply, 
in which the latter, who was still ignorant of 
Sheridan's advance to Appomattox Station, de- 
clared that the emergency had not yet arisen which 
called for the surrender of his army, but suggested 
a conference to consider the problem of the restora- 
tion of peace. Having in mind Stanton's instruc- 
1 The full correspondence is given in Appendix C, page 362. 



PETEKSBUKG AND APPOMATTOX 2G5 

tions of the preceding mouth, Grant replied, in the 
early morning of April 9th, refusing a conference 
on this subject, as beyond his authority. In the 
concluding sentence of this letter, however, he ex- 
pressed his sincere hope that "all our difficulties 
may be settled without the loss of another life.'' 

While this correspondence was going on, there 
were animated discussions in the Confederate camp 
on the subject of surrender. Most of the officers 
had reached the conclusion that the struggle was 
hopeless, and in spite of the articles of war which 
stigmatize such a course of action as treason, they 
had presented their conclusions to Lee. It was 
pathetically hard for their commander to bring 
himself to that point of view. By nature and tem- 
perament the most daring of soldiers, he still hoped 
that some brilliant stroke would bring him the 
victory. Many times in the past his military genius 
had wrought what had seemed to be miracles, and 
he longed for one more chance. Moreover, his 
pride revolted at the idea of yielding to one whose 
name was synonymous with "unconditional sur- 
render," for, even with Grant's letters before him, 
Lee could not appreciate the greatness of the mag- 
nanimity of his opponent. But when on the morn- 
ing of April 9th, Gordon's attack disclosed that the 
way of retreat was blocked and the Army of North- 
ern Virginia was surrounded, Lee yielded to the 
inevitable and displaying the white flag as the 
basis for a truce, he wrote again to Grant request- 
ing an interview for the purpose of surrender. 



. - ULYSSES S. GEAST 

Meanwhile Grant, still suffering excruciating 
pain, had ridden across the country to join Sheri- 
dan. "While en route he was overtaken by the nies- 
sengec with Lee's letter, and hastily dis] atehii g i 
reply he rode into Appomattox where he found Lee 
and one of his aides. Colonel Marshall, waiting for 
him in the house of Wiinier McLean, the most pre- 
tentious residence in the towQ. After a hi:- 
greeting with Sheridan and Ord. Grant joined Lee 
in the parlor of the McLean hou- 

It was then about half-past one on Palm Sunday, 
April 9th. The eonrr..-: :ween the two generals 

is -:riking. Le»r was the senior by fifteen years 
and. in spite of his extremity, he was attired in a 
new uniform which set ril his handsome and aristo- 
cratic figure. He wore a fine sword with a jeweled 
hilt, a present from some RngM^h sympathizers : on 
the other hand. Gran: as cooped, without sword 
or sash, wearing a blouse of dark blue flannel . his 
clothing and boots spattered with mud. with noth- 
ing but a pair of shoulder-straps to indicate his 
rank. The firs: greeting between these two gn 
commanders was p: each being attended by 

one aide, but presently Grant called into the room 
the waiting gen- - nd his staff, who wen pi sent 
during th- si -ration of the terms. Afterward 

Grant recorded that his own feelings at this mome.: 
of his gr« itest triumph were sad and depressed. ' ' I 

: like anything i . than rejoicing at :he down- 
fall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly, 
and had suffered so much k Be, though that 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 2G7 

cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a 
people ever fought, and oue for which there was 
least excuse." 

Grant and Lee had met previously iu the Mexican 
War and their first conversation was about old 
times. Once in the City of Mexico Grant had re- 
ported at Scott's headquarters in a fatigue uniform 
and Lee, who was then serving on Scott's staff, had 
directed his attention to the general's orders, that 
all officers reporting at headquarters should be in 
full uniform. The contrast in appearance at Ap- 
pomattox brought the recollection of this incident 
to Grant's memory and his first feeling made him 
uncomfortable lest Lee should recall what had hap- 
pened in Mexico, when the contrast in uniforms was 
equally pronounced. 

After a desultory conversation, Lee asked the 
terms of surrender and, calling for his order book, 
Grant proceeded to write out his proposition. 
While writing he glanced at Lee's magnificent 
sword and, reflecting that it would be an unneces- 
sary humiliation to require the officers to surrender 
their personal weapons, he added the sentence ex- 
empting the side-arms of the officers and their pri- 
vate horses from its terms. "When Lee read over 
Grant's letter he first commented upon the inad- 
vertent omission of the word " exchanged," and a 
proper correction was made. When he reached the 
generous sentence which exempted the private prop- 
erty of officers he seemed touched and said, — " This 
will have a very happy effect upon my army." 






268 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

After a careful reading he stated that his cavalry- 
men and artillerists also owned their own horses 
and inquired whether these men would be allowed 
to retain their property. Grant's reply became his- 
toric : "I think we have fought the last battle of 
the war, — I sincerely hope so, — and that the surren- 
der of this army will be followed soon by that of all 
the others ; and I take it that most of the men in 
the ranks are small farmers, and as the country has 
been so raided by the two armies, it is doubtful 
whether they will be able to put in a crop to carry 
themselves and their families through the next winter 
without the aid of the horses they are now riding, and 
I will arrange it in this way. I will not change the 
terms as now written, but I will instruct the officers 
I shall appoint to receive the paroles to let all the men 
who claim to own a horse or mule take the animals 
home with them to work their little farms." To this 
generous remark, Lee made appreciative reply : 
' ' This will have the best possible effect upon the men. 
It will be very gratifying, and will do much toward 
conciliating our people." 

The terms were then copied by Colonel Parker, a 
full-blooded Indian who had been serving on Grant's 
staff, and Lee drafted a letter of acceptance. In the 
conversation which followed Lee acknowledged his 
lack of pro visions and Graut directed that 25,000 
rations be furnished at once. A little after four 
o'clock Lee, with Colonel Marshall, left the room 
and while waiting for his horse to be brought he 
gazed sadly in the direction where his army was en- 



PETEKSBUKG AND APPOMATTOX 269 

camped and, in the agony of his spirit, thrice smote 
the palm of his left hand with his right fist,— his 
one expression of emotion during the momentous 
interview. 

As he rode off to his camp the news of surrender 
had reached the soldiers and the firing of salutes be- 
gan. Grant sent a hasty order to have the salutes 
stopped saying, " The rebels are our countrymen 
again." A short dispatch was sent to Stanton an- 
nouncing the surrender. 1 

The next day was spent in the preparation and 
signing of paroles which reached a total of 28, 231. 2 
In the forenoon Grant rode within the Confederate 
lines and had a half hour's conference with Lee, 
both sitting on horseback. He urged upon Lee the 
necessity of peace and suggested that he should use 
his great influence to that end. Lee replied that 

1 The details of the surrender at Appomattox have been taken 
in large measure from " Campaigning with Grant," by Horace 
Porter, who was present. 

2 The form of parole issued was as follows : 

I, , Prisoner of War, do hereby give my 

solemn Parole of Honor not to take part in hostilities against 
the Government of the United States until properly exchanged ; 
and that I will not do anything, directly or indirectly, to the 
detriment or disparagement of the authority of the United 
States, until properly exchanged as aforesaid. 



I certify that gave the foregoing Parole in 

my presence, and signed it in duplicate, and has permission to 
go to his home and there remain undisturbed. 



270 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

this was a matter for the civil authority, and after a 
courteous interview they parted never to meet 
again, except once when Lee called upon Grant iu 
the White House. 

When the Army of Northern Virginia made its 
last march to stack its arms, General Chamberlain, 
of the Fifth Corps, was appointed to receive the sur- 
render. As Gordon came down the road at the head 
of his column, Chamberlain ordered his men to 
salute and, with instant appreciation of the courtesy, 
Gordon directed the proper response. Without 
cheering or sound of trumpet or gun, but in an 
awed silence, salute answering salute, honor meet- 
ing honor, the veteran opponents of many momen- 
tous battles met and parted. 

It is impossible to commend too highly the meet- 
ing at Appomattox as an evidence of American 
character — both in triumph and adversity. After- 
ward Colonel Marshall said that if Grant and bis 
officers had studied how not to offend, they could 
not have borne themselves with more good breed- 
ing. " There is not in our whole history as a peo- 
ple," says Charles Francis Adams, "any incident 
so creditable to our manhood. . . . Grant was 
considerate and magnanimous, — restrained iu vic- 
tory ; Lee, dignified in defeat, carried himself with 
that sense of absolute fitness which compelled re- 
spect." 

So ended the historic scene at Appomattox, — a 
campaign which for brilliancy of conception, ac- 
curacy of execution and completeness of success, 



PETERSBURG AND APPOMATTOX 271 

ranks among the decisive struggles of history. 
Livermore's comment is suggestive : — " With a 
force of about 110,000 effectives, Grant manoeuvred, 
and drove out of their entrenchments in front of 
Richmond and Petersburg about 52,000 Confed- 
erates, and then with 72,000 men, pursuing for 
eighty miles the remainder of the Confederate army, 
estimated at 37,000, captured, dispersed or put 
hors de combat on the way about 9,000, and finally 
surrounded and received the surrender of 28,231. 
In no other modern campaign has an army ever 
pursued, surrounded and captured so many men in 
full flight." 

So striking was Grant's success that it gave rise 
to a curious tradition, based upon alleged conversa- 
tions with Confederate officers, that when Weitzel 
entered Richmond, he found there a report from Lee 
to the Confederate Secretary of War in which the 
former outlined his proposed plan of retreat when 
he should be forced to retire from Petersburg, and 
that this information was hurried to Grant, thus en- 
abling him to anticipate and meet each move of the 
enemy. However soothing this legend may be to 
the susceptibilities of those who counted Lee as in- 
vincible, it seems to have but little historic founda- 
tion. The truth is that Grant here, as at Vicksburg, 
was at his best. His army was well in hand, and he 
had personal knowledge of the effectiveness of eac^B 
subordinate. Against any foe of equal strength ancT^ 
position, the Army of the Potomac under Grant's 
leadership would probably have triumphed, aud 



272 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

when face to face with Lee's weakened and exhausted 
soldiers, it was irresistible. 

The tanner's son was now the idol of the nation, 
for he had fought its battles, until at last came vic- 
tory and peace. 1 

1 The summary of losses of the Army of the Potomac shows 
that success under Graut had cost less than failure under his 
predecessors. 

Total losses under : — 

McClellan, 
Pope, - - 
McClellau, 
Burnside, 
Hooker, - 
Meade, 



- Apr. 5 to Aug. 8, '62, - - 


24,448 


- Juue 6 to Sept. 2, '62, - - 


16,955 


- Sept. 3 to Nov. 14, '62, - - 


28,577 


- Nov. 15 to Jau. 25, '63, - - 


13,214 


- Jau. 26 to June 27, '63, - 


25,027 


- June 28, '63 to May 4, '64, 


31,530 



139,751 



Total losses under Grant : — 



1864, May 5 to June 24, Army of Potomac — 

Rapidan to James, - - 54,926 

1864, May 5 to June 14, Army of James — 

South of James River, - 6,215 

1864, June 15 to July 31, Armies of Potomac 

and James, - - - 22,936 

1864, Aug. 1 to Dec. 31, Armies of Potomac 

and James, ... 24,621 

1865, Jan. 1 to Apr. 9, Armies of Potomac and 
James and Sheridan - - 15,692 




124,390 



1 



CHAPTER XII 

RECONSTRUCTION 

By the camp-fires at Appomattox on the evening 
of the surrender, the military bauds played "Home 
Sweet Home." It was universally recognized that 
the overthrow of Lee meant the end of the war. 
Not only did it remove from the conflict the most 
redoubtable captain and the best appointed army 
of the Confederacy, but also it had long been un- 
derstood that the combat between Grant and Lee 
would be decisive of the struggle. All eyes cen- 
tered on their field of action, and both sides ad- 
mitted the finality of the result. The popular re- 
joicing in the North was fervent and grateful, and 
gave evidence of that deep religious faith which, 
beneath a surface of apparent materialism, is fun- 
damental in the American heart. The churches 
were crowded and "Old Hundred," or some other 
hymn of gratitude, was heard where^^ men 
sembled, even in the halls of trade. 

In the exultation of the hour Grant di( 
sight of the duties which the new aspect of the ; 
gle presented. The war was costing four mill] 
a day ; recruiting was still going on under tl 
stimulus of bounties ; and there were over one mil- 
lion men in the armies of the North. Leaving 




274 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Meade in command, Grant returned to City Point 
where immediate arrangements were made to reduce 
the military expenditures. Realizing that Sherman 
would probably be able to take care of Johnston 
without the assistance of the Army of the Potomac, 
he hastened to Washington where, on April 13th, 
there was a general illumination with fireworks. 
Secretary Welles has described the popular rejoic- 
ing in the capital, — "The nation seems delirious 
with joy. Guns are firing, bells ringing, flags fly- 
ing, men laughing, children cheering, all, all are 
jubilant." On the day of Grant's return, orders 
were issued stopping all drafting and recruiting 
and further purchase of ammunition and supplies. 
During the evening display the President and Mrs. 
Lincoln took Grant in their carriage to observe the 
fireworks, and everywhere they were greeted with 
nine cheers for the President and an equal number 
for the General. Never was the nation happier ; 
never was there rejoicing which turned so quickly 
to sorrow and dismay ! 

April 14th is a date written large in the his- 
tory of the United States. Four years before the 
flag had been lowered at Fort Sumter, and the 
crisis precipitated. Now to signalize the triumph 
of the Union, General Anderson, who had been 
Major in charge at the original bombardment, was 
appointed to raise the Stars and Stripes in Charles- 
bu Harbor and Henry Ward Beecher, the most 
noted of the anti-slavery orators, delivered a memo- 
rial oration. In Washington there was a meeting 



RECONSTRUCTION 275 

of the Cabinet which Grant was invited to attend. 
A thorough discussion ensued of the new problems 
which victory had brought, — the reopening of trade 
in the Southern states, the reconstruction of the 
state governments, etc. Some inquiry was made as 
to Sherman's progress and the absence of news from 
North Carolina was commented upon. It was then 
that the President remarked that he expected favor- 
able news soon, for on the night before he had had 
the usual dream which had preceded nearly every 
important event of the war. He said that he seemed 
to be in a singular indescribable vessel moving with 
great rapidity toward an indefinite shore, and that 
he had had this dream before Sumter, Antietam, 
Gettysburg, Stone River, Vicksburg, etc. After 
the Cabinet had adjourned, Lincoln invited General 
and Mrs. Grant to attend the theatre with him that 
night, but Grant, finding that his work at Washing- 
ton was now concluded, decided instead to visit his 
children who were at school in Burlington, N. J. 

Grant and his wife took the evening train for the 
North. When they reached Philadelphia, they 
crossed to the ferry on the east side of the city and 
there they received the dispatches which announced 
the assassination of the President, the murderous 
assault upon Secretary Seward, and the rumor of 
the attack upon the Vice-President. It is impos- 
sible to express the universal sorrow and the tre- 
mendous indignation which was caused by the death 
of Lincoln. Mingled with the popular lament, 
which was felt by all, regardless of politics, there 



276 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

was a general feeling of apprehension as to its pos- 
sible effect upon the policy of the nation. First 
taking his wife to Burlington, Grant returned to 
Washington by special train, where he found a city 
in mourning. 

At ten o'clock on the morning of April 15th the 
oath of office was administered to Andrew Johnson, 
and thus there was inaugurated a period of civil and 
political disputation, happily without a parallel in 
the history of the country. The new President was 
no stranger to Grant. During the Chattanooga 
campaign Johnson was serving as the military gov- 
ernor of Tennessee and his energy and intense pa- 
triotism had won for him a large measure of deserved 
popularity. He was a man of positive views and 
had frequently run counter to the military author- 
ities. Thus, in the spring of 1864 he had protested 
against appointing Sherman to command the Depart- 
ment of the Cumberland, saying that the people 
demanded Thomas. Again, three months later, he 
addressed a strong argument to the President in fa- 
vor of retaining Granger in a command from which 
Grant had removed him. No one can read the cor- 
respondence of the War Department for the last year 
of the war without obtaining a definite conception of 
Andrew Johnson, — active, zealous, honest, a bitter 
partisan, interfering with the business of others, re- 
peating and reiterating his wishes as peremptory 
commands, and yet so patriotic in his purposes and 
untiring in his efforts that even Stanton, who was later 
his bitterest opponent, spoke of him with high praise. 



RECONSTRUCTION 277 

The untimely death of Lincoln accented the line 
of cleavage between the radicals and conservatives 
among the Unionists, — a demarcation which might 
have been avoided if that great master of men, who 
had won so completely the confidence of both groups, 
had survived. The horror over the assassination 
greatly increased the influence of the radicals and at 
first they thought the new president was of their way 
of thinking. Johnson had declared that "treason 
is a crime and must be made odious," and this sen- 
timent found wide-spread acceptance among those 
who had loved and followed Lincoln. 

The first evidence of this altered public sentiment 
was seen in the reception of tidings from Sherman. 
When Johnston learned of Lee's surrender, he at 
once opened negotiations with his opponent, and on 
April 18th Sherman sigued an agreement for the 
suspension of hostilities and a basis for peace which 
involved a recognition of the Southern state gov- 
ernments. Sherman had no idea of the excited 
condition of public opinion in the North. He had 
just heard of the assassination, and he did not know 
of Lincoln's peremptory orders to Grant, forbidding 
him to decide or discuss any political question. 
"When his report reached Washington, his terms 
were instantly disapproved and Stanton, whose zeal 
had turned to bitterness with the death of his be- 
loved chief, gave to the newspapers a full account 
of the transaction, using terms from which many 
concluded that Sherman had been bribed with Con- 
federate gold. Grant was at once ordered to notify 



278 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Sherman of the disapproval of his government and 
to proceed personally to North Carolina. With in- 
finite tact he allowed Sherman to advise Johnston 
that the convention was disapproved, and afterward 
to receive the surrender of Johnston's army on the 
same terms as were given at Appomattox. Sher- 
man accepted the orders of his government with 
military obedience ; but when he received the copies 
of the Northern newspapers with their criticism of 
his conduct, his naturally fiery temper knew no 
bounds. Halleck had been made commander of the 
armies in Virginia, and had issued orders to his 
men to attack Johuston, regardless of Sherman. 
As a result when Sherman marched North with the 
Army of the West, he refused to meet Halleck in 
Richmond and warned him to keep out of the way ; 
and at the final review of the army in Washington, 
he publicly refused to shake hands with Stanton, or 
to recognize in any way the man who had put an 
affront upon his honor. During this distressing 
episode, it was universally conceded that Grant had 
conducted himself with the utmost propriety, — at 
once loyal to the government and to his friend. 

On May 23d and 24th the grand Citizen Army 
of the Republic was given its final review before the 
President and Grant,— on the first day, the Army 
of the Potomac, and on the second, the Army of 
the West. Even prior to these parades the muster- 
iug-out began. On May 4th General Taylor had 
surrendered in Alabama, and on May 26th General 
Smith surrendered the Confederate forces west of 



KECONSTKUCTION 279 

the Mississippi. By the following November over 
800,000 soldiers had been mustered out of service, 
resuming their normal occupations as citizens. On 
April 2, 1866, the President proclaimed a state of 
peace existing everywhere in the United States 
except Texas, and a few months later a second 
proclamation removed this exception. The great 
rebellion was over and the Union had been main- 
tained. 

It may fairly be stated that the next year was 
among the happiest of Grant's life. The great work 
had been well done and the nation was ready to 
show honor to those who had led in the doing. Al- 
though Grant had many demands upon his time and 
energy, for the army was still in charge of civil 
administration in the South, yet there was also 
abundant opportunity to visit the cities of the 
North, and travel was always welcome. In June 
he attended a great Fair in Chicago for the benefit 
of the widows and orphans of soldiers. The next 
month he visited Boston where he received an 
honorary degree from Harvard University. Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, writing to his friend Motley, tells 
of meeting Grant at the Saturday Club, where celeb- 
rities naturally foregather,— " He is one of the 
simplest, stillest men I ever saw. He seems torpid 
at first, and requires a little management to get 
much talk out of him. Of all the considerable 
personages I have seen, he appears to me the least 
capable of an emotion of vanity. . . . His en- 
tire sincerity and homely truthfulness of manner 



280 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

and speech struck me greatly. . . . Grant lias 
the look of a plain business man, which he is. I 
doubt if we have had any ideal so completely real- 
ized as that of the republican soldier in him. I 
cannot get over the impression he made on me." 

The pleasant experiences of lionizing culminated 
at Galena, where the enthusiasm was unbounded. 
Here his neighbors presented him with a com- 
pletely famished house. After enjoying its ac- 
commodations during the summer, Grant returned 
again to Washington to resume the duties of his 
office. 

The two absorbing problems of the time were 
Mexico and reconstruction. Daring the Civil War, 
there had been internal strife and anarchy in 
Mexico, and Napoleon III determined to send a 
French expedition to establish a stable form of 
government. Under this influence, the notables of 
Mexico offered the crown to the Archduke Maxi- 
milian, a Prince of the Hapsburg family, who was 
crowned Emperor of Mexico in 1864. Seward pro- 
tested bitterly against the invasion of the French as 
an infraction of the Monroe Doctrine, but when the 
army and navy of the United States were engaged 
in Civil War, there was little opportunity to make 
this protest effective. The war ended, the Mexican 
situation became acute. Immediately after Appo- 
mattox, Grant sent Sheridan to the Eio Grande 
frontier, with instructions to aid Juarez, who was 
the Constitutionalist President of Mexico. Mean- 
while Napoleon needed his soldiers at home, and at 



RECONSTRUCTION 281 

last recognized that a continuation of his policy 
meant war with the United States ; counting the 
cost as too great, he ordered his marshal, Bazaiue, 
to withdraw. Unfortunately Maximilian yielded 
to the importunities of his partisans and remained 
in Mexico after the departure of the French soldiers. 
His power gradually collapsed, and in 1867 he fell 
into the hands of his enemies and against the pro- 
test of the United States, was executed. The failure 
of this last attempt to establish a European empire 
on American soil may safely be attributed to the 
military prestige of the United States which had re- 
sulted from the Civil War. 

The second problem of Johnson's administration 
was reconstruction. There were many intricate 
legal and constitutional problems which now con- 
fronted the nation for the first time. Eleven states 
had seceded, but the principle of secession had not 
been recognized by the Union, and by the arbitra- 
ment of battle had been overthrown. The question 
then arose, what was the effect of this attempt upon 
statehood % Had these states lost their identity, or 
were they now to return to the Union with all the 
powers and attributes which were possessed by the 
other states ? Moreover, was the reconstruction of 
the governments of the Southern states an executive 
act to be guided and determined by the President, 
or was it a question of legislation and hence under 
the control of Congress ? These were some of the 
questions which must be considered before the 
Union could be completely restored to its normal 



282 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

condition. They were problems which had never 
been considered by the fathers, nor adjudicated by 
the legal tribunals. Not until 1869 did the Su- 
preme Court define the nature of the Union, when 
it declared in Texas vs. White that it was "an in- 
destructible union of indestructible states," and 
until that time there were many who held that the 
Confederacy was conquered area, subject absolutely 
to the will of the victors. 

Moreover, the future of the negro presented a 
most serious problem. Three and a half million 
bondsmen had been given freedom, but if the con- 
ditions of life were to be governed by the domestic 
legislation of states still under the control of the 
former masters, there was grave reason for doubt 
as to whether their second stage might not be worse 
than their first. Lincoln had considered all aspects 
of the problem and in the last stages of the war he 
had proposed peace on three conditions, viz., that the 
Union be restored, that slavery be abolished, and 
that the Confederate war debt be repudiated. But 
the bitterness of the passion aroused by his assassi- 
nation had led to a violent reaction and many, who 
would have followed him with enthusiasm and loy- 
alty, now criticized his proposed policy as too 
magnanimous. At first, the radicals claimed 
Johnson as their leader, but in the autumn of 1865 
it was apparent that in spite of the bitter language 
he had used toward "traitors," the President had 
accepted Lincoln's policy and would insist upon a 
speedy reconstruction of the rebellious states. 



RECONSTRUCTION 283 

While party Hues were thus forming, Grant's 
sympathy was first with Johnson. Naturally mag- 
nanimous, he had seen too much of the horrors of 
war to desire any revenge upon his late opponents. 
When the question was raised as to whether Lee 
could be prosecuted for treason, Grant promptly 
declared that he was covered by the terms of the 
surrender at Appomattox, and that if a prosecution 
were attempted he would at once resign his com- 
mission aud appeal to the country. The practical 
question to be determined was the attitude of the 
ex-confederates toward the negro. In the states of 
the Confederacy where the late masters controlled 
wealth, public opinion and politics, would the negro 
be treated fairly or was it necessary that the na- 
tional government should still extend its protection 
over the ex-slaves? 

Two interesting and opposing reports became 
public shortly after Congress met in December, 
1865. At the request of the President, Grant made 
a tour of inspection of North and South Carolina 
and Georgia and reported, " I am satisfied that the 
mass of thinking men of the South accept the pres- 
ent situation of affairs in good faith." Not only 
were slavery and secession settled forever, but Grant 
found many who concluded that the decision was 
fortunate for the whole country. 

On the other hand, Carl Schurz, a German by 
birth whose love of liberty had compelled him to 
flee to this country, where he had become one of the 
founders of the Republican party and later a dis- 



284 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

tiuguished military leader, — reported that while 
there was no danger of another insurrection against 
the authority of the United States, yet the rapid re- 
turn to power of those who had but recently been 
engaged in a bitter war against the Union, had 
counteracted any sentiment that treason was odious, 
or that rebellion was criminal. Moreover the dis- 
tressing economic condition of the negro hindered 
his proper development under his new freedom. 

Upon the opening of Congress, Johnson sent a 
message (recently discovered to have been written 
by the eminent historian, George Bancroft), in 
which the arguments in favor of quick reconstruc- 
tion were admirably summarized and in which he 
recommended the admittance of senators and repre- 
sentatives from the states of the Confederacy. But 
the leaders in both houses, especially Thaddeus 
Stevens and Charles Sumner, were radicals and dis- 
trusted the President as a former Southern Demo- 
crat. There were many moderates who clearly 
recognized that the supremacy of the Republican 
party was possibly at stake. Under the Constitu- 
tion prior to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amend- 
ment, representation was based upon the whole 
number of free persons and three-fifths of all others. 
Now that slavery had been abolished, the represen- 
tation of the South would be much increased and 
yet, as none of the Southern states admitted the 
negro to suffrage, this representation would be out 
of all proportion to its true voting power. Thus 
the South would still have the preponderating voice 






KECCXNSTRUCTION 285 

in the affairs of the nation, which had been one of 
the chief causes of irritation before the war. 

There was additional cause for alarm in the so- 
called "Black Codes" which were framed by the 
Southern legislatures in 1865-186G, which preserved 
the substance of slavery while avoiding the name, 
and which restricted the rights of " persons of color " 
regarding property and employment. The first re- 
sult of this legislation in Congress was the bill to 
extend the term and enlarge the powers of the 
Freednien's Bureau. On February 19th, Johnson 
vetoed it in a vigorous message which had the ap- 
proval of at least four members of his Cabinet, and 
the requisite two-thirds could not be obtained in 
the Senate to pass the bill over his veto. It was 
the only legislative triumph of his administration. 
Three days later a deputation of citizens called at 
the White House to endorse his action, and in the 
speech of acknowledgment the President allowed 
himself to become abusive and personal in referring 
to the radical leaders, and as a result he alienated 
many conservatives and increased the popular sus- 
picion of his policy. 

The rupture between the President and Congress 
proceeded rapidly. Both houses adopted a resolu- 
tion that representatives should not be admitted 
from the Southern states until Congress had declared 
such state entitled to representation. Immediately 
thereafter, Congress passed the Civil Eights bill, 
many of the provisions of which are embodied in 
the Fourteenth Amendment, and when Johnson 



280 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 



again used his veto power, a two-thirds vote of both 
houses enacted the measure into law. By the sum- 
mer of 1866 the tension was sharply drawn and 
Congress met the issue by proposing the Fourteenth 
Amendment, which made all persons born or nat- 
uralized in the United States, regardless of color, 
citizens both of the nation and of the state. Within 
recent years there has been a revival of interest in 
the problems of reconstruction and Johnson's policy 
has secured many eminent advocates. It is the gen- 
eral feeling of his partisans that if he had now ac- 
cepted the Fourteenth Amendment, and had pub- 
licly advised the Southern states to ratify it as an 
additional condition of readmission to the Union, 
it would have been quickly and universally accepted 
as a proper basis for settlement. Certainly Ten- 
nessee, which promptly ratified the amendment, had 
its senators aud representatives to Congress seated 
at once. But Johnson was not willing to recognize 
his defeat, and the Southern states hoped through 
his influence for easier terms. More and more, 
therefore, the President was forced into a position 
in which his reliance was upon the opponents of the 
war, and as a consequence the radical temper of the 
North grew stronger and more bitter. 

After Congress adjourned the President visited a 
number of Northern cities speaking in defense of 
his policy. With members of his Cabinet, and 
Grant and Farragut under orders, he made a num- 
ber of campaign speeches to large and interested 
audiences. Contemporary accounts differ widely as 



RECONSTRUCTION 287 

to the nature of these addresses and their reception. 
For the present purpose, it is sufficient to state that 
Johnson returned to Washington, after the famous 
" swing round the circle," a discredited man and in 
the elections which followed the radicals strength- 
ened their control of Congress. 

When Congress reassembled, there was a wide- 
spread conviction in the North that the only way 
to protect the negro was to give him the right to 
vote. Unquestionably this sentiment had been 
furthered by some political leaders for the purpose 
of insuring the continued supremacy of the Repub- 
lican party, but it was also based upon a deep fun- 
damental resolve that the negro should be given a 
fair chance to protect himself. This influence was 
soon asserted in legislation. An act establishing 
universal suffrage in the District of Columbia was 
passed over the President's veto. The Military 
Reconstruction Act, which divided the ten unrecon- 
structed states into five military districts, with army 
commanders to enforce peace and order, likewise 
became law, without the President's approval. The 
Tenure of Office Act, which limited the power of 
the President to make removals from civil offices, 
was also enacted. The effect of this legislation was 
to place the entire government of the South in the 
hands of the Army, and thus was inaugurated the 
era of the "carpet-bagger," in which the scanty re- 
sources of the exhausted Confederates were exploited 
for personal gain by adventurers or wasted by in- 
experience and extravagance. 



288 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

During this controversy Grant was, by common 
consent, the foremost citizen of the republic. On 
July 25, 1866, he had been commissioned General 
of the Armies of the United States, — the first ap- 
pointment to that office. Each faction used its best 
endeavors to secure his support for its policy. 
Never did his taciturnity serve him to better pur- 
pose. When partisans approached him, striving to 
commit him to their cause, he replied by discussing 
horses, — with him a favorite topic. Doubtless 
these experiences confirmed him in the aversion for 
politicians which is so well- voiced in Sherman's 
letters. When Johnson vetoed negro suffrage in 
the District of Columbia, Grant commended his 
action, but with military directness confined him- 
self to his orders and refused to announce his views 
publicly. From this time there was much discus- 
sion of his name in connection with the Presidency, 
and both Republicans and Democrats were keen to 
learn into which camp he would go. 

There can be little question but that Johnson was 
responsible for driving Grant into the radical camp. 
He had compelled Grant to accompany him on his 
political circuit, but Grant steadfastly refused to 
speak. Later he ordered Grant to Mexico to escort 
the newly appointed minister to the court of Juarez. 
Thinking that this mission was a part of a plan to 
remove him from Washington, Grant refused to go, 
taking the ground that he could not be expected to 
perform a civil mission. This might have led to a 
serious breach, but Sherman relieved the tension 



RECONSTRUCTION 289 

by volunteering in the place of his friend. The 
climax of the whole struggle came in August, 1807, 
when Johnson suspended Stanton, who was the rec- 
ognized radical representative in his Cabinet, and 
appointed Grant Secretary of War ad interim. 

This appointment brought the whole controversy 
between the President and Congress to a head, for 
the radicals asserted that it was a violation of the 
Tenure of Office Act. There was no disposition to 
criticize the appointment of Grant and during the 
five months of his service the duties of the office 
were well performed. But when Congress reassem- 
bled in December, the Senate disapproved of Stan- 
ton's suspension, and Grant at once surrendered the 
keys of the office and vacated it. A few weeks 
later Johnson again removed Stanton and appointed 
Adjutant-General Thomas as his successor. This 
gave rise to the famous impeachment, which was 
instituted and tried in the spring of 1868, and in 
which by a single vote the radicals failed to con- 
vict the President. 

One phase of this involved contest gave rise to a 
bitter dispute between Johnson and Grant on a 
question of veracity. Johnson said that when 
Grant was appointed Secretary of War, he had 
promised not to vacate to Stanton if the Senate re- 
fused to concur, but to submit to a civil suit in the 
courts which would have provided a proper test for 
the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act. 
The diary of Gideon Welles, who was an intense 
partisan of the President, illustrates the change in 



290 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

attitude toward Grant as it became increasingly 
evident that the radicals would support his candi- 
dacy for the Presidency. Thus, on December 24, 
1867, — "I am becomiug impressed with the idea 
that Grant may prove a dangerous man. He is 
devoid of patriotism, is ignorant but cunning, yet 
greedy for office and power." 

After Stanton had returned to the Secretaryship 
Johnson summoned Grant to a Cabinet meeting, 
where he was interrogated by the President as to 
the understanding at the time of his appointment. 
Giant admitted that he had promised to give the 
President notice before relinquishing his office ; but 
afterward upon examining the provisions of the 
Tenure of Office Act, he had become convinced that 
this course of action would make him liable to fine 
and imprisonment. Furthermore, he said that he 
had advised the President of this conclusion, both 
directly and through General Sherman. A few 
days later one of the newspapers published an 
editorial attack upon Grant accusing him of equiv- 
ocation and bad faith. This was afterward en- 
dorsed by four members of the Cabinet, who had 
been present during Grant's last interview with 
Johnson. Grant replied with a letter to the Presi- 
dent in which he defended his honor as a soldier 
and his integrity as a man, declaring that, — "The 
course you would have it understood I agreed to 
pursue was in violation of law and without orders 
from you, while the course I did pursue, and which 
I never doubted you fully understood, was in ac- 



RECONSTRUCTION 291 

cordance with law, and not in disobedience of any 
orders of my superior." The net result of the con- 
troversy was to embroil Grant in the partisan poli- 
tics which he had consistently tried to avoid. 
Henceforth he became a bitter opponent of Johnson 
and an advocate of impeachment. The supporters 
of the President declared that Grant had made a 
" fool of himself," and that the radicals were using 
him as a "tool." "Prevarication and downright 
falsehood, with deception and treachery toward his 
chief," declared Welles, in the confidence of his 
diary, ' ' mark the conduct of U. S. Grant. " 

Distressing as this episode must have been, it did 
not hurt Grant with the great mass of the people. 
It was generally felt that Johnson had tried to in- 
volve the popular general in his own political 
quarrel, and, while Grant had not shown much 
political acumen in avoiding the question, that he 
was undoubtedly honest and patriotic, and had ex- 
hibited a strong will. 

While the impeachment was being tried, public 
meetings all over the country were indorsing Grant 
as a candidate for the Presidency. The radicals 
dominated the Republican party, and no other can- 
didate was even considered. In October, 1867, 
John A. Andrew, the war-governor of Massachu- 
setts, declared that " the tendency of the hour is 
toward Grant, and that is best." In May, 1868, 
shortly after the Senate had voted on the articles 
of impeachment, Grant was unanimously nominated 
by the Republican convention at Chicago. Schuy- 



292 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

ler Colfax, who had long been Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, was nominated for the Vice- 
Presidency. The Democratic convention placed in 
nomination for the Presidency, Horatio Seymour 
of New York, and for the Vice-Presidency, Francis 
P. Blair of Missouri. Grant's letter of acceptance 
was memorable for its commendable brevity and the 
concluding sentence — '' Let us have peace." 

In the campaign which followed he took little 
part, spending most of his time at Galena. The 
Democratic platform declared for a reversal of the 
reconstruction policy of Congress, so that the parties 
were aptly characterized as "Grant and Peace" 
versus " Blair and Revolution." Despite the enthu- 
siasm and energy of the Democrats, there was little 
doubt as to the result. The Republican ticket re- 
ceived the vote of twenty-six states, having 214 
electoral votes, while Seymour received but 80. 
The popular majority was 309,584. Three of the 
Southern states, as yet unreconstructed, Virginia, 
Mississippi and Texas, did not take part in the elec- 
tion. Of the Southern states, Grant carried North 
and South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas 
and Tennessee. 

It was not, therefore, as the leader of a faction, 
but as the foremost citizen of the Republic, that 
Grant assumed the highest office in the gift of his 
countrymen. 



CHAPTER XIII 

EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 

" My own opinion is that, considering the state 
of the country, Grant will make the best President 
we can get. What we want in national polities is 
quiet, harmony and stability, and these are more 
likely with Grant than any politician I know of." 
So wrote Sherman in the summer of 1868. It was 
the expression of an opinion based upon a most inti- 
mate knowledge of the man, aud a close observation 
of conditions in Washington, and it phrases fairly 
the general expectation of the country. Graut's 
inexperience in civil administration was conceded, 
but his strong will was also known ; his lack of 
knowledge of political finesse was admitted, but his 
rugged patriotism had been proven. He was elected, 
therefore, with full information of both strength and 
weakness, and if his administration of the affairs of 
the country along some lines is censured by the 
judgment of history, it must at least be granted, in 
his favor, that he did his best, and never despaired 
of the future of his country. 

His inauguration was characterized by one inci- 
dent which showed his intense resentment of any 
criticism of personal integrity. Custom had pre- 
scribed that the outgoing executive and the new 



294 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

President should ride together to the Capitol, but 
Grant refused to accompany his predecessor, or to 
recognize in any way either Johnson or those mem- 
bers of the Cabinet who had joined in the hostile 
statement about the Cabinet imbroglio. The in- 
augural address was calm and dispassionate in tone, 
without striking recommendations or phrases, ex- 
cept perhaps one sentence, which brought to inind 
the troubles which had just been concluded. "I 
shall have a policy to recommend," he said, " but 
none to enforce against the will of the people." 
The solemn oath of office was pronounced, and 
Grant was now confronted with a new and strange 
task, for which his previous training gave him no 
adequate preparation. 

It will be convenient to treat his two administra- 
tions of the presidency as a unit, and to consider 
the various questions presented topically, so as to 
maintain the continuity of subject, even though 
chronological sequence be sacrificed. 

There had been considerable curiosity concerning 
the membership in the Cabinet, which remained 
unsatisfied until the nominations were sent to the 
Senate. Graut had entered upon his new work 
with a profound distrust for the tactics of politicians 
based upon his experiences in Washington during 
the previous years. He had consequently advised 
with no one and had avoided cojjfidences with the 
party leaders. It was not surprising, therefore, that 
he made mistakes which served to open the vials of 
public criticism. For Secretary of iState he nomi- 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 295 

nated Washburne, for many years the Congressman 
from bis borne district, to wbose zealous friendship 
Grant owed bis first opportunities for public service 
This appointment was intended as a personal com- 
pliment, for Washburne was really destined for tbe 
diplomatic service and desired tbe preliminary ap- 
pointment of the Secretaryship, to add to his pres- 
tige abroad. After a few days he resigned to serve 
as the Minister to France, but he utilized his brief 
term to make a number of personal appointments. 
This use of public office as a means of discharging 
personal or political obligations, while common at 
the time, reacted unfavorably upon public senti- 
ment which had hoped for higher conceptions of 
efficiency. 

After Washburne resigned, Grant approached 
James F. Wilson, and upon his declination nomi- 
nated ex-Governor Hamilton Fish, of New York, a 
man of commanding ability and sterling character 
who was extremely reluctant to accept a position 
thus cheapened in the public mind, but who finally 
yielded to Grant's necessity. It was a fortunate 
conclusion, for the most notable success of the ad- 
ministration was the direct result of Fish's capacity 
and personality. 

Alexander T. Stewart, the leading merchant of 
New York City, was nominated for the Treasury, 
and with the others, was immediately confirmed. 
Two days later it was discovered that under tbe 
Act of September 2, 1789, Stewart, as an importer 
of foreign goods, was not eligible for the post. He 



296 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

offered to place his business in trust, and give the 
proceeds to charity during his service, and Grant 
recommended that a special resolution be enacted, 
exempting Stewart from the operation of the Act. 
This extraordinary procedure was not followed, 
although a bill was considered repealing such of the 
provisions of the law as made Stewart ineligible ; 
eventually reflection brought a conviction of the in- 
advisability of passing an act for the benefit of an 
individual, and Stewart resigned. His place was 
filled by the appointment of George S. Boutwell, of 
Massachusetts, one of the leaders of the House, and 
a manager of the Johnson impeachment. 

Rawlins was named as Secretary of War, and his 
intimate relationship with Grant justified the ap- 
pointment. In the Navy, Adolph E. Borie, of 
Pennsylvania, a capitalist without any public ex- 
perience, was appointed. John A. J. Creswell, of 
Maryland, was named as Postmaster-General, Gen- 
eral Jacob D. Cox, of Ohio, for the Interior, and 
E. Rockwood Hoar, of Massachusetts, a worthy 
representative of a distinguished family, as Attor- 
ney-General. The last two, with Fish, were the 
strong men of the Administration, which might 
have been spared many troubles if their services had 
continued until the end. 

In general the Cabinet was disappointing ; the 
difficulty in adjusting the two most important port- 
folios, and the preponderance of millionaires and 
personal friends caused much criticism, and later, 
the frequent changes intensified this dissatisfaction. 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 297 

Moreover, the personal appointments in the house- 
hold of the President were taken largely from the 
military staff, and this prevented confidential rela- 
tions with Congressmen. In England, where the 
members of the Cabinet are taken from the Parlia- 
ment, the views of the executive are naturally trans- 
mitted to the legislature through official channels ; 
but in the United States, a Cabinet officer holds an 
administrative position purely, responsible only to 
his chief ; and when the Cabinet is inexperienced, 
there is always a danger of an irresponsible " kitchen 
cabinet," of those who are nearest to the President. 
During the eight years of Grant's administration, 
the seven portfolios were occupied by twenty-four 
men, a larger number than in any other period. In 
1870, Hoar was summarily requested to resign, with- 
out the slightest dissatisfaction with his services, in 
order to provide room for a Southern representative. 
A few months later, Cox resigned, after a vain at- 
tempt to resist political pressure in the many ap- 
pointments of his department. It is evident that 
when the average term of the members of the Cabi- 
net was but little over two years, there was slight 
opportunity for familiarity with the business of the 
office and to determine the proper policy. 1 

1 In Blaine's " Twenty Years of Congress," Vol. II, pp. 538- 
539, there is this comment on Grant's Cabinets, 

The following are the members of General Grant's 
Cabinet, the changes in which were in the aggregate 
mure numerous than in the Cabinet of any of his 
predecessors : 
Secretaries of State— Elihu B. Washburue, Hamilton 
Fish. 



298 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

While the uncertainty of tenure and the military 
character of the environment introduced new ele- 
ments into the life of statesmen, yet their personal 
relations with Grant were always cordial and pleas- 
ant. With those in whom he trusted, his natural 
diffidence of manner disappeared, and he talked 
fluently and helpfully on many themes. The last 
survivor of the group, J. Donald Cameron, after- 
ward for twenty years a Senator from Pennsylvania, 
has borne witness to the stimulus which he and his 
colleagues received from the President in every 
question which Grant's previous experience fitted 
him to decide, and the cordial relations of each, ex- 
cept Bristow, to his chief. 

Hamilton Fish was soon regarded as one of the 

Secretaries of the Treasury — George S. Boutwell, 
William A. Richardson, Benjamin H. Bristow, Lot 
M. Morrill. 
Secretaries of War — John A. Rawlins, William N. 

Belknap, Alphonso Taft, James Donald Cameron. 
Secretaries of the Navy — Adolph E. Borie, George M. 

Robeson. 
Postmasters-General — John A. J. Creswell. James W. 

Marshall, Marshall Jewell, James N. Tyner. 
Attorneys-General — E. Rockwood Hoar, Amos T. Ack- 
erman, George H. Williams, Edwards Pierrepont, 
Alphonso Taft. 
Secretaries of the Interior — Jacob D. Cox, Columbus 
Delano, Zachariah Chandler. 
By this it will be seen that twenty-four Cabinet officers served 
under General Grant. But this number does not include Alex- 
ander T. Stewart, who though confirmed did not enter upon 
his duties as Secretary of the Treasury ; or General Sherman, 
who was Secretary of War ad interim ; or Eugene Hale, who 
was appointed Postmaster-General, but never entered upon 
service. Mr. Taft is counted only once, though he served in 
two Departments. 



> 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 299 

capable men of the Administration. He had served 
in the Legislature of his State, as Governor, as rep- 
resentative in Congress, and as Senator, so that lie 
was well iitted to appreciate the point of view of 
both executive and legislator. The most serious 
problem iu his department related to the claims 
upon England arising out of the depredations of 
the Alabama and other English-built Confederate 
privateers against the commerce of the United 
States. As soon as the Civil War had been con- 
cluded, there was a general conviction that England 
and France must be brought to account for their 
unfriendly attitude toward the North, and for hav- 
ing accorded to the Confederates the rights of bel- 
ligerents. The general exasperation with these 
powers, aided by the desire to assert the Monroe 
Doctrine, had already led to the overthrow of Max- 
imilian, and also to the presentation of a series of 
claims to the British Government. In the last 
months of the Johnson Administration, a treaty pro- 
viding for a joint commission to consider claims was 
negotiated and signed by Reverdy Johnson and 
Lord Clarendon. But when this treaty was sub- 
mitted to the Senate, it was rejected almost unani- 
mously as wholly inadequate. 

Iu the debate upon this proposed treaty, Sumner 
made a speech which was afterward published and 
which attracted universal attention upon both sides 
of the Atlantic, and in which he expressed the 
claim of the United States, to cover not only dam- 
ages for the direct losses occasioned by these priva- 



300 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

teers, but also indirect damages for the loss to the 
merchant marine and for doubling the duration of 
the war. Sumner had reached the conclusion that 
the proper recompense for the whole claim, which 
by his computation ran into an enormous sum, was 
Canada, and running through his addresses on this 
subject was the idea that Great Britain should 
withdraw her flag from the American Continent. 
These demands, however equitable in principle, 
were so great as to become preposterous, and the 
English Government refused to consider them. The 
troubled state of affairs in Europe, however, em- 
phasized the advisability of settling all disputes 
with the United States. With the wars which 
characterized the readjustment of the balance of 
power in Europe, England had become isolated, 
and if involved in war, the United States could 
have wrecked her foreign commerce by applying 
the same principles and permitting the same prac- 
tices as had prevailed in England during the Civil 
War. 

This was the situation when Fish took up the 
matter. He early realized that it would not be pos- 
sible to assert a claim which was based upon the 
extreme limit of Sumner's demands. In the spring 
of 1871, his efforts culminated in the meeting of the 
Joint High Commission, consisting of five repre- 
sentatives of each nation, to arrange a treaty to 
provide a mode of settlement for all differences. 
The work proceeded rapidly and in May the treaty 
was laid before the Senate. In the opening article, 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 801 

regret was expressed fur the escape of the Alabama 
and other vessels from British ports, rules govern- 
ing the conduct of neutrals in time of war were pre- 
scribed and arrangements made for a tribunal of 
arbitration to meet at Geneva to pass upon the 
claims. 

This treaty was a great advance upon the existing 
methods of determining international disputes. Not 
only was the principle of arbitration accepted, but 
the creation of a new tribunal as an international 
court of justice was authorized. The arbitrators 
were appointed by the President of the United 
States, Her Britannic Majesty, the King of Italy, 
the President of the Swiss Confederation, aud the 
Emperor of Brazil. In its opening stages, the ar- 
bitration encountered one serious obstacle which 
came near to wrecking any adjustment. When the 
claim of the United Stales was presented, the in- 
direct or national claims were included in addition 
to the direct losses. The representatives of England 
felt that it was impossible I'm- them to proceed with 
an arbitration which might involve the payment of 
a gigantic indemnity. On the other hand, tin- 
American agents urged with equal force that they 
could not renounce a portion of the claim in ad- 
vance of a decision. Eventually Charles Francis 
Adams, who was the American arbitrator, suggested 
that the Tribunal itself should issue a preliminary 
decision that the indirect claims were inadmissible. 
By unanimous vote this suggestion was adopted and 
the testimony was presented. The Tribunal awarded 



302 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

the sum of $15,500,000 to be paid in gold by Great 
Britain to the United States for the damages caused 
by the Florida, Alabama aud Shenandoah. 

This conclusion of an international difficulty of 
grave moment was well received in both countries 
aud added materially to the prestige of the Grant 
Administration. While the President had little to 
do with the details of negotiation, he gave his 
earnest support to Fish and Adams and continually 
encouraged the endeavor to find a peaceful solution. 

The other developments in the field of international 
relations were not so satisfactory. Early in the 
administration, General Babcock, assistant private 
secretary to the President, went to San Domingo 
and, although wholly unauthorized, conducted a 
treaty for the annexation of the republic. When 
he returned Fish resented so strongly this irregular 
transaction that he presented his resignation as 
Secretary, but Grant persuaded him to withdraw it 
and eventually Fish became an earnest advocate of 
the San Domingo treaty. In the Senate, however, 
it met with tremendous opposition which was led by 
the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Belations, 
Charles Sumner. Making the issue personal, Grant 
called on Sumner aud asked for his support. Years 
after Grant said to James Eussell Lowell, " Sumner 
is the only man I was ever anythiug but my real 
self to ; the only man I ever tried to conciliate by 
artificial means." But Sumner was obdurate and 
when the treaty was considered in the Senate his 
voice led the opposition. So bitter was he in his 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 303 

presentation that iu March, 1871, Grant insisted 
upon his deposition from the chairmanship of the 
Committee on Foreign Relations. That this change 
could have been made in the conservative Senate 
is an apt illustration of the power of the President, 
but that the policy of reprisal thus inaugurated was 
a grave error there can be no doubt. Eventually a 
commission was appointed to visit San Domingo 
and to report upon the desirability of annexation, 
and, although the report was favorable, the public 
had become disgusted with the imbroglio and the 
matter was allowed to drop. 

During most of this administration the Cubans 
were engaged in an uprising against the power of 
Spain. Grant desired to recognize the Rebels as 
belligerents, but Fish pursued a policy of neutrality. 
In 1873 a filibusterer, the Vin/inius, flyiug the 
American flag, was captured and a large number of 
the crew condemned by court-martial and shot. 
Fish instantly protested and the outburst of popular 
indignation was so great that the navy was put on a 
war footing. Eventually the Vin/inius, and the 
survivors of her passengers and crew were restored 
to freedom and with proper apologies on the part of 
the Spanish government, the affair came to an end. 

During this administration the Empire of Napoleon 
III was overthrown and the German Empire was 
proclaimed at Versailles. When hostilities com- 
menced the American ministers in both Paris and 
Berlin were selected to represent the combating 
powers. This war had a curious effect upon Ameri- 



304 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

can politics, for in the campaign of 1872 an endeavor 
was made to divert the German vote from Grant on 
the ground that he had sold arms to France, and at 
the same time he was seriously criticized for having 
congratulated the first Kaiser upon the assumption 
of the Imperial dignity. In pro-French circles it 
was erroneously reported that Grant congratulated 
the Kaiser after each German victory. The fact is 
that Grant had a prejudice against Napoleon which 
arose out of the Mexican expedition, but in spite of 
this feeling there was no valid ground for attacking 
the neutrality of the United States. 

With the award of the Geneva Arbitration, the 
greatest of the international problems arising out of 
the Civil War was satisfactorily concluded. But 
the domestic problems, involving the mutual rela- 
tions of the conquerors and the conquered, the freed- 
raen and their former masters, were not so quickly 
solved. Every great war is attended with more or 
less social demoralization, and the Civil War was 
no exception. During the crisis men developed as 
leaders who had not the capacity for the more dif- 
ficult task of rebuilding the civic fabric. The atten- 
tion of voters had been focussed upon the national 
government and, profiting by the relative in- 
difference to local affairs, ambitious and unscrup- 
ulous men developed as political leaders in city 
and state, and organized local machines, ostensibly 
to help the party of their loyalty, but in reality to 
rob the taxpayer. Moreover, in the universality 
of popular satisfaction over the outcome of the 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 305 

struggle, men tolerated minor abuses that in ordinary 
times would have led to bitter opposition and revolt. 
It was Grant's misfortune that his administration 
came in this period of disorganization and recon- 
struction, and the worst that can be said of him is 
that he was unable to control the vices of his times. 
To say that any other would have had greater 
success would be unfair and, in the measure of 
chances in politics, probably untrue. Without 
condoning the defects of his administration, it 
should be said injustice that not a cent of "graft " 
ever reached him or his immediate family, that on 
fundamental questions he arrived at quick and 
generally righteous conclusion, and that most of his 
mistakes proceeded from one of the finest attributes 
that human nature cau possess, — an abiding loyalty 
to tested friends. 

As a result of the long controversy with Johnson, 
congressional reconstruction had won, and in order 
that the states of the Confederacy should be restored 
to full standing as members of the Union, the con- 
sent of Congress was indispensable. In general, 
under the direction of the military commanders 
who presided in the various districts, new constitu- 
tions were formed, which accepted the provisions of 
the Fourteenth Amendment. Then new voting 
constituencies were organized, from which those 
who had been active in the Confederacy were ex- 
cluded, and the negroes were included. Thus the 
paramount power in the reconstructed states was 
given to a class absolutely without political experi- 



306 ULYSSES S. GKANT' 

ence, while the natural leaders of the community, 
inauy of whom were prepared to support the new 
order of things loyally, were excluded from control. 
But civic efficiency cannot be developed by legisla- 
tive fiat, and as a result, many mistakes were made 
in establishing the reconstructed governments, and 
the already exhausted South paid a heavy penalty. 
Iu some states, political soldiers of fortune from the 
North, taking advantage of the inexperience of the 
negroes, established the reign of the " carpet-bag- 
gers," and waste, extravagance and "graft" ran 
riot. Then when the story of the sufferings of the 
South aroused some real sympathy in the North, 
there would be an outbreak of negro intimidation 
aud terrorism, such as the depredations of the no- 
torious Ku-Klux Klan, and the military rule would 
be appealed to as the only authority which could 
give real freedom to the negroes. It was a dark 
hour in the country's history, and the lesson of 
moderation which it teaches ought never to be for- 
gotten. 

With the legislation of his party, Grant was now 
in full sympathy. The Fifteenth Amendment, 
which prohibited any discrimination in the suf- 
frage, on the ground of race, color or previous con- 
dition of servitude, was proclaimed in effect on 
March 30, 1870, and with its adoption the constitu- 
tional changes arising out of the war were concluded. 
Various civil rights and enforcement bills were en- 
acted into law. But while there can be no doubt 
as to the patriotism and sincerity of the statesmen 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 307 

who urged this legislation, it is equally true that 
mauy of those who were most vicious iu keeping 
alive the war issues were actuated strongly by the 
desire to build up their own political party in the 
South, under the protection of the national soldiery. 

The dissatisfaction with conditions in the South, 
together with a growing conviction as to the inef- 
ficiency of the administration, led to a great reform , 
movement in 1872, which called itself Liberal Re- 
publican. It was not so much an opposition to 
Republican principles as it was opposition to the 
practices of the Republican party machine, with 
which Grant was at this time identified in the pub- 
lic eye. 

It is not easy to be a reformer, especially when 
one is called upon to break with a historic party 
whose traditions of service and achievement have 
been a real asset to the nation. Many of those who 
were leaders among the Liberals had formerly sup- / 
ported Grant, and now joined the opposition with 
genuine regret. Especially in New England, where 
Sumner was still regarded as the voice of the ideals 
of the nation, there had developed the conviction 
that the administration was a failure. "Grant's 
surrender to the politicians was an unexpected dis- 
appointment," wrote Norton to George W. Curtis. 
" I think the warmest friends of Grant feel that he 
has failed terribly as President, not from want of/ 
honesty or desire, but from want of tact and great 
ignorance. It is a political position, and he knew 
nothing of politics and rather despised them." 



308 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

Such was the statement of Curtis. " I liked 
Grant," wrote James Russell Lowell, "and was 
struck with the pathos of his face ; a puzzled 
pathos, as of a man with a problem before him of 
which he does not understand the terms. " 

In large measure, these opinions were the out- 
growth of a general conviction that the civil service 
needed reformation, and that all executive depart- 
ments had been weakened by the unopposed ag- 
gressions of politicians, who demanded office for 
their followers as the reward of success. At first 
Grant had resisted this tendency, and in his Cabinet 
and office appointments he had consulted his own 
judgment solely as to personal fitness. He had also 
appointed a civil service commission, which, under 
the leadership of the gifted Curtis, formulated rules 
for competitive examinations. But the pressure 
soon grew overwhelming, and was greatest from 
his own friends, and finally the merit system was 
ignored, and its leading advocates in the Cabinet, 
Cox and Hoar, summarily dismissed. Sherman 
stated the conditions of the problem with his usual 
terseness, when in June, 1872, he wrote from 
f Vienna : — "I feel for General Grant in his sad po- 
sition. When he entered his present office I believe 
he intended what he said, — to administer his office 
according to his own best judgment, — but he soon 
found that he reckoned without his host, that Con- 
gress and individual senators controlled all the details 
of government and that if he did not concede to sen- 
ators and representatives the appointing power they 



EIGHT YEABS AS PRESIDENT 309 

would Johnsonize him. Iu trying to compromise 
this difficulty, he has more and more departed from 
his true course and now a few designing senators 
and members surround him and he cannot see be- 
yond them. In other words, — as is the case here 
and in nearly all governments wielding power, in- 
fluence and money, — a crowd of flatterers surround 
him and he cannot know the whole truth." 

Moreover, it must be admitted that some of 
Grant's kindred and friends abused their relation- 
ship to the President. In the campaign of 1872, 
pamphlets were issued, charging nepotism, and con- 
taining lists of relatives, both in his own and the 
Dent family, who had been appointed to public 
office. The financial chaos of " Black Friday," the/ 
Gould-Fisk attempt to corner gold which culminated 
in September, 1869, was attributed to the influence 
of a New York speculator, who had married into 
the President's fatuity. A fine sense of delicacy 
in public matters would probably have prevented 
Jesse Grant from serving as postmaster in a Ken- 
tucky town as a part of the administration of which 
his son was the chief. But these were evils of the 
time, and belonged to the period when it was be- 
lieved that any one could till a civil office, and that 
consequently these positions were simply personal 
perquisites. 

The Liberal movement voiced an effective protest 
against the political demoralization of the times. 
Under the leadership of Carl Schurz, and with the 
support of Charles Francis Adams, Lyman Trum- 



310 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

bull, Stanley Matthews and Horace Greeley, it 
called for a higher and sobering sense of civic re- 
sponsibility, and an end of partisan bitterness. 
When its candidate for the Presidency, Horace 
/'Greeley, obtained also the Democratic nomination, 
on a platform which accepted the three constitu- 
tional amendments formulated as a result of the 
war, it seemed at first as if its ticket might sweep 
the country. But eventually, more conservative 
counsels prevailed. The worst of Grant's adminis- 
tration was known, while no one could tell what 
Greeley, an idealist without administrative experi- 
ence, would do. "He is better than Greeley, who 
has no stability at all," wrote Sherman, and so the 
country concluded. 

While recognizing the strength of the opposition, 
Grant never lost faith in the outcome. Writing to 
Washburne, one week before election, he said : 
11 Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Georgia and Texas will probably cast their votes 
for Mr. Greeley. Missouri will do the same thing. 
It would not if we could have a fair election through- 
out the state. Some counties in that state are as 
bad as any portion of Georgia and may lose us the 
electoral vote. Virginia is also a possible state for 
Mr. Greeley, though the chances are in our favor." 
Usually a candidate is the worst possible judge of 
his own chances of election, but in this case Grant 
showed a political prescience that was remarkable. 
In November, 1872, he carried every state, except 
Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 311 

Missouri, and received a majority of the popular 
vote of three-quarters of a million. Greeley, over- 
whelmed by the death of his wife aud crushed by a 
defeat which to him was unexpected, was unable to 
rally from the blow, and died before the electoral 
college assembled. 

The second term commenced with general good- 
will. In his inaugural, Grant referred to the cam- 
paign with unusual feeling: " Throughout the war 
and from my candidacy for my present office in 
1868 to the close of the presidential campaign, I 
have been the subject of abuse and slander scarcely 
ever equaled in political history, which to-day I 
feel that I can afford to disregard in view of your ver- 
dict, which I gratefully accept as my vindication." 

The new administration was soon confronted with 
financial problems of unusual seriousness. The war-' 
had exhausted capital, and had resulted in an in- 
Hated style of living. In October, 1871, the most 
disastrous fire in the history of the nation, thus far, 
destroyed a large section of the city of Chicago, and . 
in the next year, over sixty-five acres were burnt 
out in Boston. While these conflagrations caused 
much local suffering, and a heavy strain on insur- 
ance companies, yet it was not until 1873, when the 
great banking house of Jay Cooke closed its doors, 
that the financial situation became acute. The im- 
mediate occasion of this failure was the too rapid 
absorption of capital into railroad-building, and the 
result was the panic of 1873, during which the mer- 
cantile failures were over three-quarters of a billion. 



312 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

When Congress assembled, there were many 
measures suggested for relief, but the most popular 
was the reissuance of greenbacks, so as to inflate 
the currency, and thus make it easier for the debtor 
to settle with his creditors. Eventually a measure 
was passed, which authorized an increase in the 
greenbacks to $400,000,000. As the leaders of the 
party supported the bill, and as the increase was 
but slight, it was confidently assumed that Grant 
would sign it. But after much consideration, dur- 
ing which the President wrote a message approving 
the bill and then, finding the argument incon- 
clusive, destroyed it, he decided to veto the bill as 
"a departure from the true principles of finance." 
"The veto was a brave and noble act," says the 
historian of the period, James Ford Ehodes, and 
Grant's determination, based on his own independ- 
ent thought, was the most notable act of the second 
administration. 

The last years of his service as President mark 
the lowest ebb ever reached in the political morale 
of the country. The " salary grab," whereby Con- 
gress gave to its members an increase in salary 
which was dated back to the beginning of the ses- 
sion, so as to include those who voted on the meas- 
ure ; the Credit Mobilier scandal, wherein some of 
the leading congressmen were found to have ac- 
cepted stock in an enterprise which was receiving 
land-grants from the government ; the Whisky 
x Eing, which centered at St. Louis, and involved a 
number of prominent officials, including a secretary 



s 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 313 

to the President, in an attempt to evade the in- 
ternal revenue tax ; the Sanborn contracts, whereby 
a henchman of Benjamin F. Butler undertook to 
collect outstanding taxes due the government, for 
which he was to receive one-half; the Belknap 
scandal, whereby the Secretary of War was shown 
to have received indirectly payments from a post- 
trader, in exchange for the appointment, — these 
malodorous affairs aroused a universal protest, and 
a desire for better things. When "graft " has been 
exposed, the era of improvement is near, and if the 
discredit of these abuses of public office attaches to 
Grant, let it be also remembered that the exposure 
came also in his time.' 
The election of 1876 was fought on the reform 

1 Perhaps the most vivid statement of the demoralization of 
the times is to be found in the Democratic platform for 1876, as 
follows : 

"When the annals of this republic show the disgrace and 
censure of a Vice-President ; a late Speaker of the House of 
Representatives marketing his rulings as a presiding officer ; 
three senators profiting secretly by their votes as lawmakers ; 
five chairmen of the leading committees of the late House of 
Representatives exposed in jobbery ; a late Secretary of the 
Treasury forcing balances in the public accounts; a late At- 
torney-General misappropriating public funds ; a .Secretary of 
the Navy enriched and enriching friends by percentages levied 
off the profits of contractors with his department ; an ambassa- 
dor to England censurable in a dishonorable speculation ; the 
President's private secretary barely escaping conviction on trial 
for guilty complicity in frauds upon the revenue ; a Secretary of 
War impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors — the demon- 
stration is complete that the first step in reform must be the 
people's choice of honest men from another party, lest the dis- 
ease of the political organization infect the body politic, and 
lest by making no change of men or parties we get no change 
of measures and no real reform." 



314 ULYSSES S. GEANT 

issue. The Eepublicans, while at first there was 
some desire again to renominate Grant, deferred to 
the national sentiment against a third term, and 
nominated Eutherford B. Hayes, a general of the 
war who had been elected Governor of Ohio on a 
sound money platform. The Democrats nominated 
Samuel J. Tilden, an eminent lawyer, who, as 
Governor of New York, had led in the overthrow of 
the Tweed Eing. The election was exceedingly 
close, and when the first returns were in, it was 
evident that Tilden had a majority of the popular 
vote and would receive at least 184 electoral votes. 
From South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana and Ore- 
gon there were two sets of returns and if those for 
Hayes should be counted, it would give him 1S5 
electoral votes and the election ! 

The bitterness of this contest tested the political 
institutions of the country at an entirely new point. 
No such question had ever been presented to the 
" Fathers," and to add to the uncertainty, Congress 
was divided, the House being Democratic as a re- 
sult of the election of 1874. Many opposing the- 
ories of procedure were suggested. Some argued 
that the President of the Senate, who was the chair- 
man of the joint meeting of Congress when the 
votes were counted, could accept which ever certifi- 
cates he pleased. Others argued that the House 
should decide which certificates should be accepted 
for the Presidency, and the Senate should decide simi- 
larly for the Vice-Presidency. Eventually the sug- 
gestion of an Electoral Commission to consist of five 



EIGHT YEARS AS PRESIDENT 315 

Senators, five Representatives and five Justices of 
the Supreme Court, to sit as a judicial tribunal and 
to pass on disputed certificates, was agreed upon. 
When finally created, the Commission consisted of 
three Republicans and two Democrats from the 
Senate, two Republicans and three Democrats from 
the House, the four Senior Justices of the Supreme 
Court, who were equally divided in party loyalty, 
and Justice Bradley, who was the junior on the 
bench. When the Commission held its sessions, 
Bradley voted with the Republicans, and by his 
casting vote, the electoral votes for Hayes were 
accepted, and his election announced. 

While this bitter controversy was waging, many 
idle threats were made on both sides. Some demo- 
cratic partisans preached civil war rather than sub- 
mission, and there can be no doubt but that Graut's 
influence counted for peace and restraint. In is- 
suing his instructions to the army for the mainte- 
nance of order while the count was beiug made, he 
declared: "No man worthy of the office of Presi- 
dent should be willing to hold it if counted in or 
placed there by fraud. Either party can afford to 
be disappointed in the result. The country cannot 
afford to have the result tainted by the suspicion of 
illegal or false returns." This was a righteous 
attitude, and met with strong endorsement all over 
the Union, and when the radicals threatened to 
appeal to force, there was a general satisfaction 
with the assurance that the presence of a strong man 
in the White House, who knew the power of his 



316 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

office and had the strength to use it, was the best 
possible guarantee that the decision of the Electoral 
Commission would be accepted. 

His patriotic attitude during this crisis led to a 
revival of personal enthusiasm for Grant, and when 
he retired from the Presidency, while there was a 
record of some failures, yet there was no doubt of 
his sure place in the affections of his countrymen. 






CHAPTER XIV 

THE CLOSING YEARS 

"What should be done with our ex-Presidents" 
is a current American problem, more academic 
than real, for the ex-Presidents settle the question, 
each according to his own tastes. For some months 
before his retirement from the White House, Grant 
had formed his plan for the famous world-trip, and 
fortunately the means had become available. After 
sixteen years of public service, filled with unusual 
demands and responsibilities, part of the time as 
head of the army, and for half of the period as 
head of the nation, Grant had won a vacation, and 
it was but natural that his boyish ambition for 
travel should return. But travel was expensive, 
and when the official salary ceased, Grant had left 
an income of but six thousand dollars per year. 
This was less than his independent income in 1868, 
for the expenses of maintaining his family, and es- 
pecially the cost of entertaining in the White House, 
had cut into his principal to the extent of over 
twenty-five thousand dollars. Fortunately, the gen- 
erosity of a friend made the vacation possible. A 
millionaire of Galena, learning of Grant's plans, 
sent him a check for fifty thousand dollars to be 
used in the trip around the world, and the total cost 



318 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

was defrayed from this generous gift and his regular 
income for the two years. 

On May 17, 1877, General and Mrs. Grant, and 
their youngest sou, Jesse, sailed from Philadelphia 
for Liverpool on the Indiana. During part of their 
travels they were accompanied by Mr. Borie, who 
had served in Grant's Cabinet, and later by John 
Russell Young, who became the historian of the pil- 
grimage. 

In the courts of Europe it was not easy at first to 
determine the nature of the welcome to be given to 
the distinguished visitor. He was not a member of 
auy royal family, except in the sense in which an 
equal dignity could be claimed for all of his coun- 
trymen. He was not a ruler, for absolutely all au- 
thority had been laid aside. There was no prece- 
dent available as a guide. The American govern- 
ment notified its ministers to prepare a proper 
welcome for Grant and his party, and eventually 
his reception became a popular and personal tribute 
to the great general whose leadership had preserved 
the nation and had won for him acceptation as its 
representative man. 

Upon landing at Liverpool, he was presented with 
the freedom of the city, and here, as at Manchester, 
he was made the guest of the city. In London he 
was the guest of honor at the Guildhall banquet ; he 
dined with the Prince of Wales at Marlborough 
House, and was entertained by the Queen in a pri- 
vate party at Windsor Castle. In every part of 
Great Britain, and from every class, he received 



THE CLOSING YEARS B19 

the same welcome ; at New Castle ,so,oi)0 miners gave 
him a welcome, ami in each of several industrial 
cities of the North the experience was repeated. 

Iu this gracious and sympathetic- atmosphere (J rant 
developed a facility for public speech, which was 
new to him, and a genuine surprise to his friends. 
At the banquets and receptions he was always called 
upon for a few remarks, and, overcoming his nat- 
ural aversion, he soon discovered that he could 
make a very forceful and concise speech. Gener- 
ally selecting as his topic the advantages of peace, 
or international good-will, or the importance of 
some line of trade or industry, he made an excellent 
impression for sincerity and good sense. 

Without following the details of the trip, he vis- 
ited Brussels, the Rhine Valley and Switzerland, 
Paris and the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Holy 
Land, Constantinople, Athens, Italy, Holland and 
Berlin, where he was specially entertained by 1 > i s 
marck ; Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Aus- 
tria, Southern France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. 
After having seen every slate in Europe, he took 
boat for India, and later made interesting visits to 
India, Burmah, Siam, China and Japan. Iu each of 
these countries the welcome given him was real 
and sincere, and was voiced by its leading men. 
The Oriental reserve of Li Hung Chang broke down 
iu his joy at meeting a distinguished brother in- 
arms, who, like himself, had won fame in the sup 
pression of a rebellion. Even the traditional eti- 
quette of the court of Japau was modilied to give a 



320 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

welcome to the stranger, when the Mikado, for the 
first time in history, shook hands with his guest. 
It was with many personal experiences of cordiality 
and courtesy, and most pleasant memories of what 
had been said and done to make him welcome, that 
Grant finally crossed the Pacific in 1879, after an 
absence of twenty-eight months. 

Foreign travel is always a liberal education to 
any thinking man, and Grant was still at the stage 
in his career when he could appreciate new ideas. 
His service in military and civil administration had 
given him an interest in political and industrial life, 
and his travels now afforded him an opportunity 
to see how the older civilizations were meeting 
problems which were also urgent at home. It was 
curious, but characteristic, that military reviews 
bored him, although military discussions, even of 
seemingly trivial matters of organization, did not. 
Anything connected with the life of the people 
appealed to him most strongly. He returned to 
America, therefore, with a personal acquaintance 
with the leaders in the life of the world, and an in- 
sight into their work, which probably no other 
American of his time, and but few since, could equal. 

In September, 1879, Grant landed at San Fran- 
cisco, where, twenty-five years before, he had been 
stranded upon his retirement from the army. The 
enthusiasm of his welcome was convincing proof of 
the devotion of his countrymen. His return to the 
eastern coast was like a triumphal march, and as 
each state voiced its welcome to the nation's hero, 



THE CLOSING YEARS 321 

thoughts of additional public service came into 
mind. Certainly, at fifty-seven, no one could feel 
that his career was closed. An old age of inactivity 
was exceedingly repugnant to him. His income 
was but slight, and necessity required that some- 
thing should be done to supplement it. In the en- 
vironing circumstances of life, therefore, are con- 
tained the germs of the idea of a third candidacy 
for the Presidency. 

At this time, the dominant leaders of the Repub- 
lican party were Blaine, and the Senatorial tri- 
umvirate — Conkling of New York, Cameron of 
Pennsylvania and Logan of Illinois. Hayes's ad- 
ministration, while quietly capable, had achieved no 
especially dramatic success and the politicians were 
disappointed in the independence of the man. By 
his own act of self-abnegation, Hayes had limited 
his service to a single term, and as the next election 
became imminent, there was much speculation as to 
a successor. For several years Blaine had been a 
leading candidate, and at first it looked like an easy 
victory. But presently Conkling and his associates 
determined to bring out Grant again, convinced that 
with the added prestige of his transatlantic honors, 
with such a candidate, the party, in Conkling's pic- 
turesque phrase, could "grandly win." There can 
be no question but that this determination had been 
reached by many prominent leaders long before 
there had been any authoritative communication 
with Grant. While many of his advocates belonged 
to the stalwart wing of the party, and had received 



322 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

the benefits of patronage during his administrations, 
yet it is clear that another reason had operated to 
bring others to the same conclusion. The state 
elections since 1876 indicated that public senti- 
ment in the South had consolidated in favor of the 
Democratic party. In presidential elections, the 
"Solid South," as it was called, began with 1880. 
Many far-sighted Republicans dreaded the perma- 
nent alienation of a large section of the country 
from their party, and they now turned to Grant as 
the one candidate who might succeed in the South. 

For several months Grant maintained an absolute 
silence on the subject of his candidacy. His wife 
and closest friends were known to be enthusiastic in 
their desire for the third term, and there can be 
little question but that Grant himself wished for an- 
other opportuuity to use his wider knowledge for 
the advancement of the nation. Writing to Wash- 
burne, February 2, 1880, he said : " All that I want 
is that the government rule should remain in the 
hands of those who saved the Union until all the 
questions growing out of the war are forever settled. 
I would much rather any one of ten I could mention 
should be President rather than that I should have 
it." But the next month he wrote, — "I owe so 
much to the Uniou men of the country that if they 
think my chances are better for election than for 
other probable candidates in case I should decline, 
I cannot decline if the nomination is tendered with- 
out seeking on my part." 

In 1876, when there had been some suggestion of 



THE CLOSING YEARS 323 

a third term, the House of Representatives had 
adopted a resolution declaring against the reelec- 
tion of a President at the conclusion of his second 
term. While much of the opposition to the third 
term idea lost its force with an intervening term for 
some other man, yet the suggestion caused a slorm 
of bitter criticism wholly apart from the personality 
of the candidate. Pamphlets and partisan screeds 
were published on both sides of the question ; Grant 
was accused of endeavoring to establish imperial in- 
stitutions, and odd parallels were drawn between 
his career and that of Napoleon, whom he despised ! 
Eventually, when the convention met at Chicago, 
Grant sent a letter to Cameron, who was then chair- 
man of the national committee, directing the with- 
drawal of his name. But Cameron showed it to 
Conkling, and that trusted leader persuaded Grant 
to withdraw the letter, and thus to enter the 
fight. 

The Chicago convention of 1880 was the most ex- 
citing in the history of the party, until the split in 
1912. Grant had a plurality of delegates, but no 
majority. Superbly courageous, Conkling fought 
his battle, with a following which during thirty-five 
ballots never was less than 304 votes, and on the 
thirty-sixth ballot, when Garfield received 399 votes 
and nomination, there were still 306 who followed 
Conkling in his hopeless fight. In the campaign 
which followed, at first Democratic success seemed 
assured, for the line of cleavage in the opposition 
had been too pronounced. Toward the close of the 



324 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

campaign, Grant was persuaded to speak for Gar- 
field at one meeting, and this drew Conkling into 
the field. Eventually, Garfield won New York state 
and the election, although his opponent, Hancock, 
carried the Solid South ! 1 

With the final overthrow of his political possibil- 
ities, Grant determined upon a residence in New 
York city. His second son, Ulysses, lived there, 
and during the world-trip he had become the man 
of business of the family, supervising investments, 
and watching over the returns. Moreover, New 
York had always been hospitable to the Grants. 
Many of the General's warmest friends resided there, 
and its leaders had been loyal to his ambitions. But 
with a residence in the metropolis, some consider- 
able addition to his income was necessary, if a 
dignified standard of living was to be maintained. 
Several propositions were suggested, but the one 
eventually accepted, which brought the crowning 
sorrow into old age, came from Ferdinand Ward. 

Ward was a broker of some standing. Through his 
brother, he had become acquainted with Grant's son, 
Ulysses, who eventually entered into speculations 
with him. These enterprises proving successful, 
Ward now suggested the organization of a new 
bauking firm, in which General Grant and J. D. 
Fish, then president of the Marine National Bank, 

1 The opposing attitude was expressed forcefully in a letter of 
Goldwiu Smith: "The nomination of Garfield against Grant 
was a decisive victory of the better and purer part of the Repub- 
lican party over that which had been debauched by twenty 
years of office." See " Correspondence of Gold win Smith," p. 92. 



THE CLOSING YEAES 325 

should be special partners. For years the firm of 
Grant and Ward enjoyed excellent repute with the 
general public. One uauie contributed prestige, 
while the other was that of a so-called " Napoleon 
of finance." Practically all of Grant's capital, 
amounting to $100,000, was placed in the firm as 
his contribution ; and ju return, he drew out gener- 
ally three thousand dollars per month as his share of 
the profits. Obviously there was something dis- 
proportionate between the investment and the re- 
turn, yet Grant, who in financial matters was as 
simple-minded as a child,. accepted these excessive 
profits without doubt or hesitation. Nor was he 
the only one to be deceived. It was a period of in- 
flation, following the panic of 1873-1877, when every 
one was making money, and many of the shrewdest 
were misled by Ward's optimistic reports. 

Meanwhile, the end was near at hand. Ward had 
always represented to Grant that the Arm did not deal 
in government contracts, but that its money w;is 
made by advancing to contractors what they needed 
to start their work. The Marine National Bank 
was their fiscal agent, and so successful had been the 
firm that after three years it had an ostensible 
balance of over $600,000 at the bank, and a capital 
of over $15,000,000. But while Grant and his son 
were absolutely unsuspicious of any wrong-doing, 
Ward had been engaged in a series of speculations 
which could no longer be maintained. From the 
beginning of his career as a financier he had 
secured deposits for syndicates, speculated with the 



326 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

funds, declared and paid large imaginary profits 
out of capital, so as to secure greater deposits for 
the next syndicate, and so on, until at last the 
bubble broke. Cupidity and the hope of large 
returns had led many people to patronize him, 
aud the prestige of Grant's name had convinced 
the skeptics that the business was honestly con- 
ducted. 

One Sunday in May, 1884, Ward suddenly 
appeared at Grant's home and told the Geueral that 
the Marine National Bank was tottering, because of 
an unexpected call for a large city deposit, and that 
if the bank closed its doors, it might temporarily 
embarrass their firm. After much urging, Grant 
agreed to attempt to borrow $150,000, and calling 
on William H. Vanderbilt, he at once received the 
money, but as a personal loan. A few days later, 
the world was startled with the news of the failure 
of the Marine National Bank, and the insolvency of 
Grant and Ward, carrying with it the private 
fortunes of almost every member of the Grant 
family. With the failure came a series of legal 
inquiries, which disclosed the methods which Ward 
had used to perpetrate and maintain a gigantic 
series of frauds. Then came criticism, stern and 
bitter, directed against all who had taken part in 
the swindle, and especially against General Grant, 
whose reputation for integrity had been a chief 
reason why many had deposited with the firm. An 
effort was made to hold Grant personally liable to 
all creditors, as a general partner of the firm. This 



THE CLOSING YEARS 327 

failed, as legally it was bound to fail, but all of the 
Graut fortuue was swept away nevertheless. 

Walter Johnston, who was appointed receiver of 
the Marine Bank, has written his memories of these 
days, as follows : 

"Grant and Ward began business with an office 
in the building owned by the First National Bank, 
corner of Wall and Broadway. Ward began a 
colossal scheme of fraud. He induced wealthy 
people to subscribe to so-called government con- 
tracts on the dead quiet, owing, he said, to Grant's 
connection with the firm. Army and navy supplies 
of hay, clothes, coal, etc., the contracts for which 
had been allotted to him by the government, he 
whispered, and on which there were huge profits. 
It is surprising how it succeeded. 

" In forming the firm he had induced the president 
of the Marine National Bank of New York City, 
James D. Fish, to join in the firm in order to 
secure the use of the bank in floating these schemes. 
The modus operandi was to get, say, #500, 000 sub- 
scribed and paid in to the Marine Bank, and then 
in thirty, or sixty, or ninety days, pay the sub- 
scribers back their principal and interest, and share 
of the profit amounting to say twenty per cent, on 
their subscription, but immediately to induce them 
to reinvest the whole amount, and double up, on 
another contract for coal, or something else, which 
everybody with the agreeable experience of getting 
back profits so easily would jump at. And so it 
went on, with* a growing overdraft in the Marine 
Bank up to $750,000, with the purpose on his part 
of absconding some day with a great sum, until one 
day the strain, in the bank became impossible to 
stand any longer, and down it broke, and knocked 
his whole plan into a cocked hat. 



328 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

" One of the parties, who had drawn heavily on 
him and then reinvested heavily, got suspicious, 
and after a constant pull on him to demonstrate his 
ability to pay, it broke him and left him flat on his 
back, a disgraced man. 

"In his extremity before failure, he visited 
General Grant at his house, and told him that 
$150,000 would save the house. Poor Grant called 
on Mr. Vanderbilt and took with him the only 
collateral he had, to wit : the trophies presented to 
him in Europe on his travels, and asked Vanderbilt 
to loan him the money, which he did, and of course 
lost every cent of it, which broke Grant's heart. 
Vanderbilt refused the collateral. 

"I had Ward taken out of jail, where he had 
been placed in a suit, to come to my office and make 
up schedules of the whole business, so that my 
counsel could decide in what quarter to sue. He 
was entirely willing, being hopelessly broken in 
spirit. While he was at work at that job, the trial 
of James D. Fish, the ex-president of the bank, was 
on in the United States Court here. Fish had ex- 
hibited to the court a copy of a letter he had sent 
to General Grant asking him to reassure him as to 
these contracts, inasmuch as the loans at the bank 
were growing so heavy that he was alarmed. When 
Ward came down to his office next morning, he was 
haiided this letter. He opened it and read it, and 
seeing what Ka deadly effect it would have if there 
was no answer, he dictated a reply in type, and 
took it up the stairs to General Grant's office, where 
he was acting president of a Mexican Railway 
Company, and inserted it in a bunch of the General's 
correspondence, which according to his custom as 
President and General of the Army was awaiting 
his signature about four o'clock in i the afternoon, 
when he always took the boat to his cottage at Long 



THE CLOSING YEAK9 329 

Branch. His secretary would hand him those ac- 
cumulated letters one by oue tor signature, blotting 
the signature for him, and being of a nature that 
was merely perfunctory official business, the General 
would not read them unless his attention was called 
to any one of them by the secretary. Ward came 
up when the General had gone, and took his letter 
out, which announced to Fish that the contracts 
were all right, and himself mailed it to Mr. Fish. 

" All this he confessed to me the same day that 
the Fish letter was read in court. It nearly cleared 
Fish. The jury were out six hours, but they finally 
indicted him on false statements in the reports to 
the Comptroller of the Currency, in which they car- 
ried these enormous losses in the name of the colored 
porter and other employees. In this case the court 
adjourned for an hour to have General Grant's de- 
position taken, as he was lying in bed with the can- 
cer that later he died of. Elihu Root, who was the 
district attorney, gave to the General the letter from 
Fish. He read it and said in his low voice, ' I don't 
understand this, Mr. Koot, I never received this 
letter.' Then he presented him with the answer 
signed by him. He read it over and said, ' Mr. Root, 
that is my signature, but I never wrote or dictated 
that letter.' The lawyers for Mr. Fish joined with 
Mr. Root in assuring General Grant that the whole 
thing was a fraud on him and that he should not 
allow it to worry him any, but that it was necessary 
to take his testimony both for his own sake and Mr. 
Fish's. Ward was sent to the penitentiary for ten 
years, and Fish for the same, but after two years I 
addressed a letter to the President of the United 
States telling him the whole story and he was par- 
doned." 

It was intensely humiliating to the old soldier to 



330 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

learn that he had been the decoy of a sharper. It 
was very bitter to reflect that not only was his own 
fortune swept away, but also the savings of those 
who had trusted him. "Financially, the Grant 
family is ruined for the present, and by the most 
stupendous frauds ever perpetrated," he wrote to 
his sister, at the same time sending a message to 
" Aunt Jennie," whose fortune had been lost in the 
crash, that she should always have a home with 
him. But for a time absolute privation threatened. 
When the failure came, Grant and his wife had but 
a few hundreds in cash, and as a separate income 
for Mrs. Grant, purchased by some friends, stopped 
at this time because of a default in bond interest, 
the harassed family was in great distress. For- 
tunately, there were still friends. One gentleman 
sent him a check for one thousand dollars, as an 
indefinite loan, on account of services rendered 
"prior to 1865." The Mexican Ambassador in- 
sisted upon the acceptance of a like amount. With 
this generous aid, the crisis was tided over, until 
some houses in Washington, belonging to Mrs. 
Grant, could be sold. 

One thing hung heavily on the General's con- 
science. William H. Vanderbilt had made a per- 
sonal loan to him, and Grant insisted that this debt 
should be discharged. All of his property at St. 
Louis and Chicago was deeded to Mr. Vanderbilt, 
and eventually all of his personal property, includ- 
ing the unique collection of gifts, souvenirs, swords, 
etc., collected during the trip around the world. 



THE CLOSING YEAKS 331 

Mr. Vanderbilt insisted upon returning this collec- 
tion to Mrs. Grant, but the General refused, and 
eventually, with the consent of both, it became the 
property of the nation. 

While Grant was thus facing ruin, and the an- 
guish which came from bitter criticism, he was also 
engaged in the opening skirmish of the last battle 
of his life. On Christmas, 1883, he had fallen on the 
ice, and there had been a rupture of a muscle in the 
thigh. He was slow in recovering, and for mouths 
he could walk only with the aid of crutches. When 
the failure came, he was still far from well, although 
able to travel around the city. When the first 
storm of criticism had passed, Grant began to con- 
sider the necessity of earning a livelihood, so as 
to at least accumulate a competence for his wife. 
It is again one of the unique contrasts of life that 
this man, who had held most exalted positions, and 
had so recently been received ou terms of equality 
by the sovereigns of Europe and Asia, was now to 
become a bread-winner. Fortunately, there was 
available a line of work for which he had a special, 
although undiscovered, talent, and in which his 
peculiar knowledge was needed by the world. 

Many publishers had endeavored to persuade 
Grant to write out his memories of the war, but the 
pressure of other things and a failure to recognize 
his ability for the work had led him to refuse. In 
the days of his prosperity, he had written but one 
magazine article, in advocacy of a rehearing in 
the case of General FitzJohu Porter. But when 



332 ULYSSES S. GBANT 

money was needed, the idea of writing assumed a 
more favorable aspect. Two articles, on Skiloh 
and Vicksburg, were written for the Century Maga- 
zine, and their reception, as evidenced by a sub- 
stantial check from the publisher, far in excess of 
the amount of their agreement, was strong evidence 
that the public would welcome a complete account of 
Grant's experiences. Finally, Samuel L. Clemens 
(Mark Twain), who was then a member of the 
publishing firm of Charles L. Webster & Com- 
pany, secured his signature to a contract, and the 
great work began. 

It was a race with death. In the autumn of 1884, 
an affection of the throat developed, which was 
soon pronounced to be cancer. During the winter 
the pain and suffering were intense, but realizing 
that this was a final chance to provide for those 
whom he loved, the General proceeded with the 
work of dictation. In March, 1885, the heart of 
the dying veteran was gladdened by the action of 
Congress in restoring him to his rank and salary as 
a retired General of the Army. This removed the 
immediate dread of want, but his desire to finish 
the "Memoirs" was intense. When, in April, it 
seemed as if he were dying, he was still able to say : 
"I want to live and finish my book." With the 
same grim determination as at Vicksburg and 
Petersburg, he fought his last fight with the eternal 
foe and won ! 

Dictating when he could, writing with his tablet 
when speech was impossible, he pushed his work to 



THE CLOSING YEARS 333 

the end, and in the late spring the " Memoirs " were 
finished. Meanwhile, the sympathy and affection- 
ate regard of the nation were expressed at the bedside 
of the dying soldier. Visitors came from far and 
near, especially army officers, both Union and Con- 
federate. Once more he was the hero of the na- 
tion, and in the memory of what he had wrought, 
the recent bitterness passed away. 

When the warmer weather of the spring came, he 
and his family accepted a generous offer to occupy 
the Drexel cottage at Mount McGregor, and on 
June 16th he was removed to this beautiful home. 
But now his work was done, and the suffering was 
very great. Night after night of sleepless agony 
passed. Occasionally some message would come 
from the sick-room which would electrify the coun- 
try, as when Grant wrote on his conversational pad 
for Buckner, his old army friend, " I have wit- 
nessed since my illness just what I have wished to 
see since the war, — harmony and good-will between 
the sections." 

It was in the early morning of July 23, 1885, 
that the spirit took its flight. 

After his death a paper was found pinned to his 
robe, which contained these final words for his wife 
and children : 

" Look after our dear children and direct them in 
the paths of rectitude. It would distress me far 
more to think that one of them could depart from 
an honorable, upright and virtuous life than it 
would to know that they were prostrated on a bed 



/ 



334 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

of sickness from which they were never to arise 
alive. They have never given us any cause for 
alarm on their account, and I earnestly pray they 
never will. 

" With these few injunctions and the knowledge I 
have of your love and affection, and of the dutiful 
affection of all our children, I bid you a final fare- 
well until we meet in another and, I trust, a better 
world. You will find this on my person after my 
demise. 

"Ml. McGregor, July 9, 1885." 



CHAPTER XV 

GRANT— THE MAN 

It is difficult to sum up briefly the esseutial 
characteristics of a mau who has touched life ou 
many sides, aud has aroused persoual enthusiasm 
aud partisau bitteruess. The generation who knew 
Grant intimately could not agree concerning him, 
aud those whose knowledge is derived from secondary 
sources cannot hope to escape like differences in 
opinion. But whatever disputes there may be con- 
cerning his generalship, his administrative capacity 
and his habits, there are certain large notes of 
personal character concerning which all testimony 
points to fixed and definite conclusions. Among 
these notes may be mentioned the purity of his 
speech and life, his devotion to the wife and the 
home-circle, the simplicity of his bearing and his 
dogged determination along fundamental lines. 

Living in an age when men gave free scope to 
their elemental passions, Grant stands unique in his 
singular self-control. His army associates, at a 
time when profanity was glossed over as the natural 
expression of strong passion, commented freely 
upon the absence of oaths in his speech. Charles 
A. Dana has recorded his impression of this side of 
Grant's character : 



336 ULYSSES S. GRANT 



a 



Late in the evening I left Hard Times with 
Grant to ride across the peninsula to DeShroon's. 
The night was pitch dark, and, as we rode side by 
side, Grant's horse suddenly gave a nasty stumble. 
I expected to see the General go over the animal's 
head, and I watched intently, not to see if he was 
hurt, but if he would show any auger. I had been 
with Grant daily now for three weeks, and I had 
never seen him ruffled nor heard him swear. His 
equanimity was becomiug a curious spectacle to 
me. When I saw his horse lunge my first thought 
was, ' Now he will swear.' For an instant his moral 
status was on trial, but Grant was a tenacious horse- 
man, and instead of going over the animal's head, 
as I imagined he would, he kept his seat. Pulling 
up his horse, he rode on, and, to my utter amaze- 
ment, without a word or sign of impatience. And 
it is a fact that though I was with Grant during the 
most trying campaigns of the war, I never heard 
him use an oath." 

Nor was this self-control due merely to impassive- 
ness, but rather to an innate fineness of feeling which 
resented anything vulgar or unclean. The traditional 
story will be recalled of the dinner-table, where one 
of the guests prefaced a salacious story with the 
common introduction, " Now, as there are no ladies 
present," — when he was interrupted by Grant's in- 
stant and effective comment, — "No, but there are 
gentlemen !" 

This high appreciation of clean life and speech 
was based upon the strength of the teachings of his 



GRANT— THE MAN 337 

early boyhood, but it was undoubtedly increased by 
the charm and simplicity of his home-life. His 
marriage was very happy, in the days of privation 
as well as in the later years of prosperity, and no 
man responded more completely to the joys of 
domestic life. During his military career, his 
letters to his wife written in camp and on the battle- 
field, many of which have never been published, 
show a tenderness of feeling surprising in a man 
who seemed as stolid as Grant. "Tell me all 
about the children," he writes after Douelson. "I 
want to see rascal Jess already." " Give my love 
to all at home," he writes to his wife on the eve of 
Shiloh. "Kiss the children for me." Just before 
Missionary Ridge, when the care of the Army of the 
Cumberland bore hard, he wrote to an old friend at 
St. Louis : "I was very glad to hear from my chil- 
dren. I have ordered Fred and Buck to write to 
me often, but they don't do it. If you see them 
again tell them they must write to me every week." ' 
These home letters, written not for publication, 
show the real man, and no one can understand his 
essential qualities who fails to recognize that here 
was a clean-minded, home-loving American. More- 
over, his affection for his wife was so marked that 
it made their relationship almost ideal. There is 
real romance in the beautiful story of the wife of 
General Pickett, who made the Grants a visit in the 
White House, and was present at a discussion of a 
prospective surgical operation to remove a slight 
1 From the collection of Louis J. Kolb, of Philadelphia. 



338 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

obliquity in Mrs. Grant' s eyes. When the operation 
had been almost decided upon, Grant suddenly 
protested, — " I don't want to have your eyes fooled 
with. They are all right as they are. They are 
the same eyes I looked into when I fell in love with 
you ! " 

But even his affections became a source of weak- 
ness in the Presidency, when scheming and ambi- 
tious men, who could not have approached him 
directly, made use of his kinsmen as a means of 
communication. Moreover, not all in the large 
circle of Grant's family were equally worthy of con- 
fidence, and some showed indeed a sad lack of pro- 
priety in using his position and prestige as a medium 
for personal advancement and gain. To the end of 
his days, his loyalty responded instantly to the call 
of affection, and some of his greatest errors of judg- 
ment are to be attributed to this trait. When he 
was President, some members of Congress called on 
him to suggest the removal of a cabinet officer who 
was under investigation. When the purpose of the 
deputation had been stated, Grant replied, " The 
true test of friendship after all isn't to stand by a 
man when he is in the right ; any one will do that ; 
but the true test is to stand by him when he is in 
the wrong. " And that test he accepted and ful- 
filled. 

Sheridan once remarked to Don Cameron : " This 
is a queer world. The less any one knows of any- 
thing, the more he thinks he knows. Now take 
Grant, he does not know a thing about finances, but 



GRANT— THE MAN 339 

believes that he knows it all." Once a member of 
the Cabinet called at the White House, and found 
Grant pasting internal revenue stamps in his wife's 
check-book. The visitor called attention to the 
fact that the checks were already stamped in the 
printing. Whereupon the President naively con- 
fessed that he had been pasting stamps on the 
checks for over a year ! 

Again Sheridan said: "Grant is a wonderful 
fellow about his children. He thinks Fred is a 
devil of a fine fellow and that Buck knows twice as 
much as Fred and that Jesse knows more than both 
together." In the home, Grant was a loving and 
almost an indulgent father. His partiality for chil- 
dren made him a great favorite with the group of 
youngsters who played in the White House dur- 
ing his Presidency. At the second inaugural he 
brought joy to the heart of an eight-year-old boy by 
inviting him to sit in front of the President's car- 
riage upon the return from the Capitol. When 
Mrs. Pickett brought her children to the White 
House on a visit and was afraid that the crying of 
the baby would disturb her host, Grant at once re- 
assured her and placing his stick in the child's hand 
and his silk hat on its head, remarked, "Now tell 
them that you will do as you please and that the 
whole place belongs to you." 

In personal intercourse there is much contradic- 
tion in testimony as to his habits of speech. Prior 
to the war his intimates recall him as a most inter- 
esting conversationalist, especially on topics that 



340 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

related to his own experiences. But during the war 
he became popularly known as reserved, taciturn 
aud silent, and this characteristic developed also 
during the period of the Presidency. It is highly 
probable that this restraint was unnatural to Grant, 
aud was the result of the watch he was forced to 
place upon his words, at a time when a careless 
phrase might have resulted in public misconcep- 
tion and disaster. Among his staff or with inti- 
mate friends, Grant conversed readily and on a wide 
variety of topics. He was not a raconteur but 
sometimes he told a story with excellent effect. 
General Horace Porter has recorded an episode of 
the Petersburg campaign. The staff was discussing 
some rumors which were evident exaggerations, 
and in the chat Grant told a story of an officer who 
had such a propensity for lying that he frequently 
made himself absurd. In trying to amend he asked 
a friend to touch his foot under the table if he ever 
seemed to exaggerate. During the dinner some one 
mentioned the tendency to build larger hotels every 
year, aud the amateur Munchausen broke into the 
conversation by describing the hotel which his 
father had built, bigger than any one had ever 
attempted since. "Two hundred ninety-six feet 
high, five hundred eighty feet long, aud " — here his 
friend kicked him under the table and the officer con- 
cluded, in a subdued tone of voice, "five and one- 
half feet wide." 

In the list of anecdotes, mention should be made 
of Grant's well-known comment on Sumner. At 



GRANT— TIIE MAN 341 

the height of the controversy between them with 
reference to San Domingo, some one remarked to 
Grant that Sumner did not believe in the Bible. 
"Of course not," replied Grant ; " he didn't write 

it!" 

With a strong interest in reading, Grant had 
little development of the aesthetic senses. Poetry 
and literary criticism did not interest him, and he 
was singularly deaf to the charm of music. He 
once remarked to Robert C. Wiuthrop of Boston, — 
" I only know two tunes, one is Yankee Doodle and 
the other isn't ! " 

No one ever heard Grant scoff at religion, and yet 
he did not formally join church until three months 
before his death. It may be that the circumstances 
of pioneer life did not give opportunity for a regu- 
lar church membership, and it is certain that after- 
ward Grant was temperamentally less interested in 
the outward signs of membership than in the con- 
ditions of inward grace. When he was baptized in 
April, 1885, he said to Bishop John P. Newman, 
whose church he had attended for many years in 
Washington, "I believe in the Holy Scriptures. 
Whoso lives by them will be benefited thereby." 
At the same time, when a sinking spell had almost 
ended his life, Newman asked him, — " What was 
the supreme thought in your mind when eternity 
seemed so near?" To which the dying General re- 
sponded, — "The comfort of the consciousness that 
I have tried to live a good and honorable life." A 
member of the family circle quotes Grant as having 



342 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

once remarked, "I often prayed silently to God at 
night and during the day that He might aid me in 
the performance of my duties." Once he attended 
a communion service at Dr. Newman's church in 
Washington, in company with Schuyler Colfax ; 
during the service Grant requested Colfax to ac- 
company him to the communion, but the latter re- 
fused, and so Grant too stayed away. 

In his dealings with others, Grant was most scrup- 
ulous of the truth. ' ' Tediously truthful ' ' he was 
called by one of his staff officers. At the White 
House an attendant one day brought him the card 
of a visitor when he was very busy. "Shall I tell 
the gentleman you are not in 1 " asked the usher. 
"No," replied the President, "you will say noth- 
ing of the kind. I don't lie myself, and I won't 
have any one lie for me." 

When Alexander H. Stephens visited the camp 
of the Army of the Potomac, he was much im- 
pressed by Grant's kindliness of manner to his sub- 
ordinates, and his constant use of "please" in his 
directions. General Wilson has commented on the 
same trait, saying : " Without being effusive, he 
was altogether the most thoughtful and considerate 
general with whom I ever served." In the entire 
course of the war, ouly two outbursts of anger have 
been recorded. The first occurred in the Iuka cam- 
paign, when Grant found a straggler who had as- 
saulted a woman. Seizing a musket in sudden rage 
he struck the culprit over the head, sending him to 
the ground. Again, in the Virginia campaign, he 



GRANT— THE MAN .34:? 

broke out in vehement denunciation of a teamster 
whom he had seen abasing a horse. 

The Civil War was scarcely concluded before 
there was ushered in an interminable strife among 
military critics as to the merit of the various opera- 
tions. Grant has not been a favorite among the 
critics, many of whom have urged that with his 
overwhelming superiority of resources he should 
have accomplished his results with a greater economy 
of life. The answer to this point of view is to be 
found in Grant's conception of the war as a struggle, 
which had to be fought to a finish. It was necessary 
that not only should the North win, but also that 
the South should know itself to be defeated, so that 
the conflict would be ended for all time. A cam- 
paign of higher strategy might have taken Rich- 
mond, but until Lee's army was overwhelmed, the 
South would not recognize its defeat, and to conquer 
Lee's veterans a great sacrifice of life was inevitable. 

One of the great factors in his military success 
was his complete familiarity with all phases of 
command. After the war, Grant once remarked to 
Hillyer, his St. Louis friend,—" I think I should 
have failed in this position if I had come to it in the 
beginning, because I should not have had confidence 
enough. You see I have come through al 1 1 he grades 
of the service,— captain, colonel, brigade, division, 
corps, army,— and I am confident of myself now. 
McClellan's misfortune, I always believed, was in 
his clearing all the grades at once, aud hence feeling 
a want of confidence in this great responsibility." 



344 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

Even the experience as quartermaster helped in 
qualifying hiin tor high command ; Grant always 
was in touch with the arrangements for supplies, 
and as a consequence his men were kept fit for their 

work. 

In his methods and strategy there is nothing 
which revolutionized military science. He brought 
all the resources of a sturdy common sense, aided by 
a dogged resolution, to bear on his problem, and 
that is all ! General Alexander, who served as 
Lee's Chief of Artillery, includes among Grant's 
rare qualities " his ability to make his battles keep 
their schedule times." There was a clear and 
simple reason for this. When he had written out 
his orders for one corps commander, he would send 
copies to all of the other geuerals, so that each 
would understand not only his own part, but the 
part of each of the others in the common result. 
After the war, General Ewell commented most 
favorably on this practice, which was wholly un- 
like anything practiced in the Army of Northern 
Virginia. 

His strategy is seen at its best in the campaign 
before Vicksburg, and in the last campaign against 
Lee. Perhaps the last ten days prior to Appomattox 
revealed Grant's powers to best advantage, and his 
use of cavalry with infantry while in pursuit of 
Lee has been highly commended as one of the most 
original strokes of the war. But in all of the cam- 
paigns his concentration of resources against the 
material point, his continuous fighting until the end 






GEANT— THE MAN 345 

was attained, and his constant use of all that he had, 
stamp his leadership as of the highest quality. 
Many critics have instituted a comparison between 
Grant and Lee, perhaps because their qualities, 
both military and personal, made so striking a con- 
trast, and considering the difference in the resources 
of each, they generally conclude that Lee was the 
better general. In qualification of this point of 
view, however, it is well to remember the story, 
that once when an ex-Confederate officer was 
criticizing Grant's generalship to Lee, the latter 
promptly interrupted,—" You pay me a very poor 
compliment, sir, when you rate so low the general 
who compelled my army to surrender." 

On the battle-field, and in the crises of a campaign, 
his mind worked very rapidly and with perfect 
clearness. Thus, when at Missionary Eidge, the 
messengers from Hooker brought the news of his 
victory on Lookout Mountain with so little loss, 
Grant at once concluded that so cheap a victory 
against the enemy's left must indicate that Bragg 
had heavily reinforced his right against Sherman. 

It is not, however, by scientific contributions to 
the theory of war that Grant's name will live. It 
is rather for his persoual qualities, and the de- 
termination which he brought into the struggle. 
From the beginning he had no doubts, either as to 
the righteousness of his cause, or its final triumph. 
From early boyhood his strong will and determi- 
nation attracted attention. He once remarked that 
he would never turn back if he could possibly avoid 



346 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

it. When a lad he had started on horseback to go 
to the mill and while musing he had passed the road 
which led to it ; instead of retracing his steps he 
drove a long distance around so as to reach the mill 
without turning back. When his dogged determi- 
nation became centred on the problems of the war, it 
was irresistible. In the darkest days of 1864, Grant 
said, — " I feel as certain of crushing Lee as I do of 
dying." 

This was the secret of his influence on Sherman, 
McPherson and Sheridan. Toward the close of the 
war, Sherman once opened his heart to Wilson, 
who had joined him in the Georgia campaign, — 
"Wilson, I am a damned sight smarter man than 
Grant ; I know a great deal more about war, 
military history, strategy and grand tactics than he 
does ; I know more about organization, supply and 
administration and about everything else than he 
does ; but I'll tell you where he beats me and where 
he beats the world. He don't care a damn for what 
the enemy does out of his sight, but it scares me like 
Hell!" Again, General Howard once said: "If 
at any time one said to Grant, ' Our men are worn 
out,' 'They are short of rations,' ' They need rest, ' 
he would answer, ' Just so it is with the enemy.' 
Speeches like this seemed to be heartless, but it 
meant, — ' Go on now, and make a little larger 
sacrifice and you will gain the victory. The enemy 
is as weak as you are. ' " 

There are many illustrations of this trait in the 
stories of the war. In the Wilderness, an excited 



GRANT— THE MAN 347 

aide rode up to Grant, "General, Lee is in our 
rear." "All right," returned Grant, " then we are 
in his rear." Again, when Ewell made his final 
attack on Sedgwick, one general warned Grant that 
this was Lee's method, and that the Union Army 
would soon be outflanked. "lam heartily tired of 
hearing about what Lee is going to do," was Grant's 
response. " Some of you always seem to think that 
he is suddenly going to turn a double somersault, 
and land on our rear and both of our flanks at the 
same time. Go back to your command, and try to 
think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of 
what Lee is going to do. " It was Lincoln's recogni- 
tion of Grant's unfaltering purpose which gave him 
such absolute confidence in his general. " The 
great thing about Grant," he said to Carpenter, " is 
his perfect coolness and persistency of purpose. I 
judge he is not easily excited, — which is a great 
element in an officer, — and he has the grit of a bull- 
dog ! Once let him get his teeth in, and nothing 
can shake him off." 

Here then is the secret of his greatness. In 
command of an army, he had a complete knowledge 
of its organization and capacity ; he clearly and 
quickly thought out the possibilities of a situation ; 
and his dogged and unfaltering persistence kept his 
men at the task until the work was done. It may » 
be asked why did not these same qualities bring 
him success in civil life? The answer is clear, 
because he needed some supreme crisis to make him 
work at his best. With Grant, love of country was 



348 ULYSSES S. GKANT 

the mastering devotion. When there was a funda- 
mental problem to be solved, he could arouse his 
mighty powers ; but iu the ordinary affairs of life 
there was no special call for him. It is highly 
significant that when Oliver Wendell Holmes met 
the General in 1865, what first attracted him was 
the "entire loss of selfhood in a great aim which 
made all the common influences which stir up other 
people as nothing to him." 

In civil life, the call to the patriot is not always 
clear. In the contending of factions, when all 
appeal alike to love of country, Grant found no 
guiding star. Sometimes a question would come 
up, like the proposed inflation of the currency, which 
appealed to his temperament as a fundamental ques- 
tion of right or wrong, and then he was just as 
decisive as on the battle-field. But ordinarily he 
saw little in civil administration, except the strife 
of parties for place, and in a rivalry between friends 
and foes he supported his friends. 

The ideal of a soldier of a republic has probably 
never been more fully realized than in Grant ; — his 
simplicity of manner, lack of ostentation, repug- 
nance to military parade, which amounted to al- 
most an aversion, his fixed devotion to the institu- 
tions of his country, contrast strongly with the 
personal ambition for self-aggrandizement of the 
typical soldier of the preceding centuries. Grant 
always manifested a strong respect for law as the 
expression of the supreme will of the people. 
When he was President he once said, "The best 



GRANT— THE MAN 349 

means of securing the repeal of an obnoxious law is 
its vigorous enforcement." In the exciting days of 
the reconstruction controversy, Johnson once asked 
Grant where he would be found in the event of a 
rupture between Congress and the President. The 
answer was, "That will depend entirely uj>on 
which is the revolutionary party." 

While Grant's fame will rest chiefly upon his 
services during the war, it cannot be denied that he 
has also made a permanent and enduring contribu- 
tion to literature. Prior to the publication of the 
" Memoirs," it had long been recognized that Grant 
wrote quickly and well. His military messages and 
orders written upon the field of battle had certain 
characteristics of clearness, and they showed not 
only lucidity of thought but great power of expres- 
sion. The common speech of the nation would be 
poorer if it were not for his additions to the store 
of apt expressions. As illustrations, — " Immediate 
and unconditional surrender." "I propose to move 
immediately on your works." "I shall take no 
backward steps." "I propose to fight it out on 
this line if it takes all summer." " I shall have no 
policy to enforce against the will of the people." 
"If a command inferior to my rank is given me, it 
shall make no difference in my zeal." "Let no 
guilty man escape." It took a man of heroic 
mould to send word to Logan in the middle of the 
battle of Champion Hill when the attack was being 
pressed with great vigor, " Tell Logan he is making 
history to-day." 



350 ULYSSES S. GRANT 

A study of Grant's addresses and state papers 
during the Presidency discloses a statesmanlike 
grasp of many interesting questions. He strongly 
urged an iuteroceanic canal, and in one of his state- 
ments said, "I commend an American canal on 
American soil to the American people." When the 
movement toward civil service reform was instituted, 
he wrote, — "The present system does not secure 
the best men, and often not even fit men, for public 
place. The elevation and purification of the civil 
service of the Government will be hailed with ap- 
proval by the whole people of the United States." 
After his European experience, he anticipated a 
great movement toward public recreational centers 
in the following, — " All cities ought to have simi- 
lar places where the rich and the poor, the high and 
the low, may meet on a footing of equality ; where 
they may have aesthetic, instructive and other inno- 
cent amusements ; and where all behave themselves 
in a proper manner, as is the case in the Tivoli 
Garden in Copenhagen. It would keep the poor 
people from grumbling, as well as from revolution- 
ary tendencies." But, perhaps, the most striking 
of all his comments was that upon war, — "Though 
I have been trained as a soldier and have partici- 
pated in many battles, there never was a time when 
in my opinion some way could not have been found 
of preventing the drawing of the sword. I look 
forward to an epoch when a court recognized by all 
nations will settle international differences instead of 
keeping large standing armies as they do in Europe. " 



GRANT— THE MAN 351 

Here then was a man who made a poor beginning 
in life, but recognizing his mistake he redeemed 
himself at the right time. Wnen the crisis came, 
his military experience and poise enabled him 
to do something even with small resources, un- 
til at last he won recognition as t lie best-qualified 
man in the nation for large command. When the 
war had been fought to a linish ami the Union pre- 
served, the gratitude of his countrymen brought 
him into civil life for which he had little aptitude 
and no previous training. Even in these new ex- 
periences, however, he showed himself right upon 
fundamental questions, and if he was not able to 
curb the administrative demoralization of his time, 
it may at least be questioned whether any other could 
have done much better. In war and in peace, he 
never doubted the future of his country or the se- 
curity of its institutions. The world will not will- 
ingly forget the life and work of a conqueror whose 
first thought was of sympathy with the sensitive 
feelings of the vanquished, and whose message to 
his countrymen when on the verge of his highest 
honor was, — " Let us have Peace." l 

1 Recently there has been an interesting contribution to the 
Grant Genealogy, in "Heredity in Relation t<> Eugenics," by 

Charles' Benedict Davenport. It instated that both Grant and 

Grover Cleveland were directly descended from Ann Biohardsoa 
and hence related to the fine Puritan stock of New England. 
The student of heredity oonld draw an Interesting parallel be- 
tween these two men who had in common do1 only or tam tnn- 
daiuentals of character, but also outward raemblaoOM of 
manner. 

THE END 



APPENDIX A 

Letters of Grant and Sherman 
March, 1864 

Nashville, Tennessee, March 4, 186^. 

Dear Sherman : 

The bill reviving the grade of lieutenant-gen- 
eral in the army has become a law, and my name 
has been sent to the Senate for the place. 

I now receive orders to report at Washington im- 
mediately, in person, which indicates either a con- 
firmation or a likelihood of confirmation. I start in 
the morning to comply with the order, but I shall 
say very distinctly on my arrival there that I shall 
accept no appointment which will require me to 
make that city my headquarters. This, however, is 
not what I started out to write about. 

While I have been eminently successful in this 
war, in at least gaining the confidence of the public, 
no one feels more than I how much of this success 
is due to the energy, skill, and the harmonious put- 
ting forth of that energy and skill, of those whom it 
has been my good fortune to have occupying sub- 
ordinate positions under me. 

There are many officers to whom these remarks 
are applicable to a greater or less degree, propor- 
tionate to their ability as soldiers ; but what I want 
is to express my thanks to you and McPherson, as 
the men to whom, above all others, I feel indebted 
for whatever I have had of success. How far your 
advice and suggestions have been of assistance, you 



APPENDIX A 863 

know. How far your execution of whatever has 
been given you to do entitles you to the reward I 
am receiving, you cannot know as well as I do. I 
feel all the gratitude this letter would express, giv- 
ing it the most flattering construction. 

The word you I use in the plural, intending it for 
McPherson also. I should write to him, and will 
some day, but, starting in the morning, I do not 
know that I will find time just now. Your friend, 

U. S. Grant, 
Major- General. 



Near Memphis, March 10, IS64. 

General Grant : 

Dear General : — I have your more than kind 
and characteristic letter of the 4th, and will send a 
copy of it to General McPherson at once. 

You do yourself injustice and us too much honor 
in assigning to us so large a share of the merits 
which have led to your high advancement. I know 
you approve the friendship I have ever professed to 
you, and will permit me to continue as heretofore 
to manifest it on all proper occasions. 

You are now Washington's legitimate successor, 
and occupy a position of almost dangerous eleva- 
tion ; but if you can continue as heretofore to be 
yourself, simple, honest, and unpretending, you will 
enjoy through life the respect and love of friends 
and the homage of millions of human beings who 
will award to you a large share for seeming to them 
and their descendants a government of law and sta- 
bility. 

I repeat, you do General McPherson and myself 
too much honor. At Belmont you manifested your 
traits, neither of us being near ; at Douclsou also 



354 APPENDIX A 

you illustrated your whole character. I was not 
near, and General McPherson in too subordinate a 
capacity to influence you. 

Until you had won Donelson, I confess I was al- 
most cowed by the terrible array of anarchical ele- 
ments that presented themselves at every point ; 
but that victory admitted the ray of light which I 
have followed ever since. 

I believe you are as brave, patriotic, and just as 
the great prototype Washington ; as unselfish, kind- 
hearted, and honest as a man should be ; but the 
chief characteristic in your nature is the simple 
faith in success you have always manifested, which 
I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian 
has in his Saviour. 

This faith gave you the victory at Shiloh and 
Vicksburg. Also, when you have completed your 
best preparations, you go into battle without hesi- 
tation, as at Chattanooga — no doubts, no reserve ; 
and I tell you that it was this that made us act with 
confidence. I knew wherever I was that you 
thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you 
would come — if alive. 

My only points of doubt were as to your knowledge 
of grand strategy, and of books of scieuce and his- 
tory ; but I confess your common -sense seems to have 
supplied all this. 

Now as to the future. Do not stay in Washing- 
ton. Halleck is better qualified than you are to 
stand the buffets of intrigue and policy. Come out 
West ; take to yourself the whole Mississippi Val- 
ley ; let us make it dead-sure, and I tell you the 
Atlantic slope and Pacific shores will follow its 
destiny as sure as the limbs of a tree live or die with 
the main trunk ! We have done much ; still much 
remains to be done. Time and time's influences are 
all with us ; we could almost afford to sit still and 



APPENDIX A 355 

let these influences work. Even in the seceded 
States your word now would go further than a 
President's proclamation, or an act of Congress. 

For God's sake and for your country's sake, come 
out of Washington ! 1 foretold to General Halleck, 
before he left Corinth, the inevitable result to him, 
and I now exhort you to come out West. Here lies 
the seat of the coming empire ; and from the West, 
when our task is done, we will make short work of 
Charleston and Richmond, and the impoverished 
coast of the Atlantic. 

Your sincere friend, 

W. T. SlIEEMAN. 



APPENDIX B 

The Official Orders in May, 1864 

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, 

May 2, 186%. 
Orders : 

1. The army will move on Wednesday, the 4th 
May, 1864. 

2. On the day previous, Tuesday, the 3d 
May, Major-General Sheridan, commanding Cavalry 
Corps, will move Gregg's cavalry division to the 
vicinity of Bichardsville. It will be accompanied 
by one-half of the canvas pontoon train, the engi- 
neer troops with which will repair the road to Ely's 
ford as far as practicable without exposing their 
work to the observation of the enemy. 

Guards will be placed in all the occupied houses 
on or in the vicinity of the route of the cavalry, and 
in advance toward the Eapidan, so as to prevent 
any communication with the enemy by the inhabit- 
ants. The same precaution will be taken at the 
same time in front of the First and Third Cavalry 
Divisions, and wherever it may be considered neces- 
sary. 

At 2 o'clock A. M., on the 4th May, Gregg's di- 
vision will move to Ely's ford, cross the Eapidan 
as soon as the canvas pontoon bridge is laid, if the 
river is not fordable, and as soon as the infantry of 
the Second Corps is up will move to the vicinity 
of Piney Branch Church, or in that section, throw- 
ing reconnaissances well out on the Pamunkey road 



APPENDIX B 357 

toward Spottsylvania Court House, Hamilton's 
crossing and Fredericksburg. 

The roads past Piney Branch Church, Tod's 
tavern, etc., will be kept clear for the passage of 
the infantry the following day. 

The cavalry division will remain in this position 
to cover the passage of the army trains, and will 
move with them and cover their left flank. 

At midnight on the 3d May, the Third Cavalry 
Division, with one-half the canvas pontoon bridge 
train, which will join it after dark, will move to 
Germania ford, taking the plank-road and cross the 
Kapidan as soon as the bridge is laid, if the river is 
not fordable, and hold the crossing until the infantry 
of the Fifth Corps is up ; it will then move to 
Parker's store on the Orange Court House plank- 
road or that vicinity, sending out strong reconnais- 
sances on the Orange plank and pike roads, and 
the Catharpin and Pamunkey roads, until they feel 
the enemy, and at least as far as Robertson's tavern, 
the Hope Church, and Ormoud's or Kobiusou's. 

All intelligence concerning the enemy will be 
communicated with promptitude to headquarters, 
and to the corps and division commanders of the 
nearest infantry troops. 

3. Major-General Warren, commanding Fifth 
Corps, will send two divisions at midnight of the 3d 
iustant by way of Steveusbuig and the plank-road to 
the crossing of Germania ford. So much bridge 
train as may be necessary to bridge the Kapidan at 
Germania ford, with such artillery as may be re- 
quired, will accompany these divisions, which will 
be followed by the remainder of the corps at such 
hour that the column will cross the Kapidan with- 
out delay. Such disposition of the troops and ar- 
tillery as may be found necessary to cover the 
bridge will be made by the corps commander, who, 



358 APPENDIX B 

after crossing, will move to the vicinity of the Old 
Wilderness tavern on the Orange Court House pike. 
The corps will move the following day past the head 
of Catharpin's Eun, crossing the Orange Court 
House plank-road at Parker's store. 

4. Major-General Sedgwick, commanding Sixth 
Corps, will move at 4 A. M., on the 4th inst., by 
way of Steveusburg and Germania plank-road to 
Germania ford, following the Fifth Corps, and after 
crossing the Eapidan will bivouac on the heights 
beyond. The canvas pontoon train will be taken 
up as soon as the troops of the Sixth Corps have 
crossed, and will follow immediately in rear of the 
troops of that corps. 

So much of the bridge train of the Sixth Corps as 
may be necessary to bridge the Eapidan at Cub 
peper Mine ford will proceed to Eichardsville in 
rear of the reserve artillery, and as soon as it is as- 
certained that the reserve artillery are crossing, it 
will move to Culpeper Mine ford, where the bridge 
will be established. 

The engineers of this bridge train will at once 
open a road from Culpeper Mine ford direct to 
Eichardsville. 

5. Major-General Hancock, commanding Second 
Corps, will send two divisions, with so much of the 
bridge train as may be necessary to bridge the Eap- 
idan at Ely's ford, aud such artillery as may be re- 
quired, at midnight of the 3d instant, to Ely's ford. 
The remainder of the corps will follow at such hour 
that the column will cross the Eapidan without 
delay. 

The canvas pontoon train at this ford will be 
taken up as soon as the troops of this corps have 
passed, and will move with it at the head of the 
trains that accompany the troops. The wooden 
pontoon bridge will remain. 



APPENDIX B 359 

The Second Corps will enter the Stevensburg and 
Eichardsville road at Madden's, in order that the 
route from Stevensburg to the plank -road may be 
free for the Fifth and Sixth Corps. After crossing 
the Eapidau the Second Corps will move to the 
vicinity of Chandler's or Chaucellorsville. 

6. It is expected that the advance divisions of 
the Fifth and Second Corps, with the wooden pon- 
toon trains, will be at the designated points of cross- 
ing not later than 6 a. m. of the 4th instant. 

7. The reserve artillery will move at 3 A. M. of 
the 4th instant and follow the Second Corps, passing 
Mountain Run at Ross's mills or Hamilton's cross- 
ing at Ely's ford, take the road to Chaucellorsville, 
and halt for the night at Hunting Creek. 

8. Great care will be taken by the corps com- 
manders that the roads are promptly repaired by 
the pioneers wherever needed, not only for the 
temporary wants of the division or corps to which 
the pioneers belong, but for the passage of the troops 
and trains that follow on the same route. 

9. During the movement on the 4th and follow- 
ing days, the commanders of the Fifth and Sixth 
Corps will occupy the roads on the right flank to 
cover the passage of their corps, and will keep their 
flankers well out in that direction. 

The commanders of the Second Corps and reserve 
artillery will in a similar manner look out for the 
left flank. 

AVherever practicable, double columns will be 
used to shorten the columns. Corps commanders 
will keep in communication and connection with 
each other, and cooperate wherever necessary. 
Their picket lines will be connected. They will 
keep the Commanding General constantly advised 
of their progress and of everything important that 
occurs, and will send staff officers to acquaint him 



360 APPENDIX B 

with the location of their headquarters. During 
the movement of the 4th instant, headquarters will 
be on the route of the Fifth and Sixth Corps. It 
will be established at night between those corps and 
the Germania plank-road. 

10. The infantry troops will take with them fifty 
rounds of ammunition upon the person, three (3) 
days' full rations in the haversacks, three (3) days' 
bread aud small rations in the knapsacks, and three 
days' beef ou the hoof. 

Each corps will take with it one-half of its in- 
trenching tools, one hospital wagon, and one medium 
wagon for each brigade ; one-half of the ambulance 
trains and the light spring- wagons, and pack an- 
imals allowed at the various headquarters. 

No other trains or means of transportation than 
those just specified will accompany the corps, except 
such wagons as may be necessary for the forage for 
immediate use for five (5) days. The artillery will 
have with them the ammunition of the caissons only. 

11. The subsistence and other trains loaded with 
the amount of rations, forage, infantry and artillery 
ammunition, etc., heretofore ordered, the surplus 
wooden pontoons of the different corps, etc., will be 
assembled under the direction of the Chief Quarter- 
master of the army in the vicinity of Eichardsville, 
with a view to crossing the Rapidan by bridges at 
Ely's ford and Culpeper Mine ford. 

12. A detail of 1,000 or 1,200 men will be made 
from each corps as guard for its subsistence and 
other trains ; this detail will be composed of entire 
regiments as far as practicable. No other guards 
whatever for regimental, brigade, division, or corps 
wagons will be allowed. Each detail will be under 
the command of an officer selected for that purpose, 
and the whole will be commanded by the senior 
officer of the three. 



APPENDIX B .°>G1 

This guard will be so disposed as to protect the 
trains on the inarch and in park. The trains are 
likewise protected by cavalry on the Hank and rear. 

13. Major-General Sheridan, commanding the 
Cavalry Corps, will direct the hist Cavalry Division 
to call in its pickets and patrols on the right on the 
morning of the 4th instant and hold itself ready to 
move and cover the trains of the army ; it will 
picket and watch the fords of the Rapidau from 
Rapidau Station to Gerinania ford. On the morn- 
ing of the 5th the First Cavalry Division will cross 
the Rapidau at Gerinania ford and cover the right 
flauk of the trains while crossing the Rapidau and 
during their movements in rear of the army. 

The signal stations on Cedar, Poney, and Stoney 
Mountains will be maintained as long as practicable. 

14. The wooden pontoon train at Gerinania and 
Ely's fords will remain for the passage of General 
Bnrnside's Army. That at Culpeper Mine ford 
will be taken up under the direction of the Chief 
Engineer as soon as the trains have crossed, and will 
move with the train of its corps. 

By command of Major-General Meade, 

S. Williams, 

Asst. Adjutant- General. 



APPENDIX C 

Concluding Correspondence Between Grant 

and Lee 

The concluding correspondence between Grant 
and Lee is here given in full. 

[No. 1.] 

April 7, 1865. 
General : — The result of the last week must con- 
vince you of the hopelessness of further resistance 
on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia in 
this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as 
my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of 
any further effusion of blood, by asking of you the 
surrender of that portion of the Confederate States 
Army known as the Army of Northern Virginia. 

U. S. Grant, 

Lieutenant- General. 
General E. E. Lee. 

[No. 2.] 

April 7, 1865. 
General : — I have received your note of this date. 
Though not entertaining the opinion you express 
on the hopelessness of further resistance on the part 
of the Army of Northern Virginia, I reciprocate 
your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and 
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask 
the terms you will offer on condition of its surrender. 

E. E. Lee, 
General. 
Lieutenant- General U. S. Grant. 



APPENDIX C 363 

[No. 3.] 

April 8, 1S05. 

General: — Your note of last evening in reply to 
mine of same date, asking the condition on which I 
will accept the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, is just received. In reply, I would say 
that peace being my great desire, there is but one 
condition I would insist upon, namely, that the 
men and officers surrendered shall be disqualified for 
taking up arms again against the Government of the 
United States until properly exchanged. I will 
meet you, or will designate officers to meet any of- 
ficers you may name for the same purpose, at any 
point agreeable to you, for the purpose of arranging 
definitely the terms upon which the surrender of the 
Army of Northern Virginia will be received. 

U. S. Grant, 

Lieutenant- General. 

General E. E. Lee. 



[No. 4.] 

April <?, 1865. 
General : — I received at a late hour your note of 
to-day. In mine of yesterday I did not intend to 
propose the surrender of the Army of Northern 
Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. 
To be frank, I do not think the emergency has 
arisen to call for the surrender of this army, but as 
the restoration of peace should be the sole object of 
all, I desire to know whether your proposals would 
lead to that end. I cannot, therefore, meet you with 
a view to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia, 
but as far as your proposal may affect the Confeder- 
ate States forces under my command, and tend to 
the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet 
you at ten A. m. to-morrow on the old stage road 



364 APPENDIX C 

to Richmond, between the picket-lines of the two 

armies. 

R. E. Lee, 
General. 
Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 

[No. 5.] 

April 9, 1865. 
General: — Your note of yesterday received. I 
have no authority to treat on the subject of peace ; 
the meeting proposed for ten a. m. to-day could lead 
to no good. I will state however, General, that I 
am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the 
whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms 
upon which peace can be had are well understood. 

By the South layiDg down their arms they will 
hasten that most desirable event, save thousands of 
human lives, and hundreds of millions of property 
not yet destroyed. 

Seriously hoping that all our difficulties may be 
settled without the loss of another life, I subscribe 
myself, etc., 

U. S. Grant, 

Lieutenant- General. 
General R. E. Lee. 

[No. 6.] 

April 9, 1865. 
General : — I received your note of this morning 
on the picket-Hue, whither I had come to meet you, 
and ascertain definitely what terms were embraced 
in your proposal of yesterday, with reference to the 
surrender of this army. I now ask an interview in 
accordance with the offer contained in your letter of 
yesterday, for that purpose. 

R. E. Lee, 
General. 
Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 



ArPEXDIX C 365 

[No. 7.] 

n j n 7-, t ~ April 9, 1S65. 

General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A.: 

n rn Y ° Ur "° te 0f this date is b,lt this moment, 
II :50 a. m., received. In consequence of having 
passed from the Kichinond and Lynchburg read to 
the : Parinyille and Lynchburg road, J am. at this 

Miitmg, about four miles west of Walker's Church 
and will push forward to the front, for the Durnose 
ot meeting you. 

Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the 
interview to take place will meet me. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
U. S. Grant, 

Li'utcnant-Gencral. 

[No. 8.] 
Appomattox Court Rouse, Va. t 

„ , T April .9, 1865. 

General .—In accordance with the substance of 
my letter to you of the 8th instant, I propose to 
receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia on the following terms, to wit : Rolls of all 
the officers and men to be made in duplicate one 
copy to be given to an officer to be designated b v 
me, the other to be retained by such officer or ot 
ficers as you may designate. The officers to give 
their individual paroles not to take up arms against 
the Government of the United States until properly 
exchanged ; and each company or regimental com- 
mander sign a like parole for the men of their com- 
mands. The arms, artillery, and public property 
to be parked and stacked, and turned over to the 
officers appointed by me to receive them. This 
will not embrace the side-arms of the officers nor 
the private horses or baggage. This don,., each of- 
ficer and man will be allowed to return to his home, 



366 APPENDIX C 

not to be disturbed by United States authority so 
long as they observe their paroles, and the laws in 
force where they may reside. 

U. S. Grant, 

Lieutenant- General. 
General R. E. Lee. 

[No. 9.] 

Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 

April 9, 1865. 
General : — I have received your letter of this date, 
containing the terms of the surrender of the Army 
of Northern Virginia as proposed by you. As they 
are substantially the same as those expressed in 
your letter of the 8th instant, they are accepted. 
I will proceed to designate the proper officers to 
carry the stipulations into effect. 

R. E. Lee, 
General. 
Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 



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by, 1894. 

Welles, Gideon. The Diary of, 191 1. 

White, Horace. The Life of Lyman Trumbull, 1913. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 369 

Williams, Charles Richard. The Life of Rutherford Birchard 
Hayes, 19 14. 

Wilson, James Grant. General Grant's Letters to a Friend, 
1 86 1 to 18S0, Edited by, 1897. 

Wilson, James Harrison. Under the Old Flag, 1914. 

Wise, John S. The End of an Era, 1899. 

Wister, Owen. Ulysses S. Grant (Beacon Biographies), 1909. 

Young, John Russell. Around the World with General Grant, 
I8 7 9- 

* The works which are starred are of the greatest importance. 



INDEX 



Adams, Charles Francis, on 
Geneva tribunal, 301 ; in 
Liberal movement, 309. 

Alabama Claims, statement of, 
299 ; the Joint High Com- 
mission, 300 ; the Geneva 
arbitration, 301. 

Amendment, Fifteenth, adopted, 
306. 

Amendment, Fourteenth, pro- 
posed, 286. 

Ammen, Daniel, boyhood with 
Grant, 26. 

Appomattox, operations at, 261- 
264 ; surrender at, 268. 

Beauregard, G. P. T., at 
Pittsburg Landing, 138-146; 
opposes Butler, 231. 

Belmont, battle of, 115-116. 

Big Black, battle of, 176. 

Bismarck, Otto von, entertains 
Grant, 319. 

Blaine, James G., comment on 
Cabinet, 297; leadership, 321. 

Bragg, Braxton, succeeds Beau- 
regard, 151 ; invasion of 
Kentucky, 155 ; campaign of 
Chickamauga, 191-194; Bat- 
tle of Missionary Ridge, 200- 
204. 

Brown, B. Gratz, in Civil War, 
106. 

Buchanan, Robert C, at Fort 
Humboldt, 74. 

Buckner, Simon B., befriends 
Grant, 78 ; at Fort Donelson, 
123; surrenders, 129; rein- 



forces Bragg, 192 ; visits 
Grant, 333. 

Buell, Don Carlos, commands 
Army of the Ohio, 1 20 ; en- 
ters Nashville, 132; at Pitts- 
burg Landing, 146-147. 

Burnside, Ambrose E., at 
Knoxville, 198 ; relieved by 
Sherman, 205 ; commands 
Ninth Corps, 220 ; relieved 
of command, 245. 

Butler, Benjamin F., commands 
The Army of the James, 220 ; 
advance up Peninsula, 231 ; 
mistakes of, 236-237 ; quar- 
rel with Smith, 239 ; fails at 
Fort Fisher, 253. 

Cameron, J. Donald, in Cab- 
inet, 298 ; supports third 
term movement, 321. 

Cedar Creek, battle of, 248- 
249. 

Champion's Hill, battle of, 

175- 
Chattanooga, capture of, 191 ; 

description of, 199. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 193. 

City Point, Grant at, 253. 

Civil service, in Grant's admin- 
istration, 308. 

Civil War, influence on youth, 
12; causes of, 88-94; area 
of, 109. 

Clemens, Samuel L., friendship 
for Grant, 332. 

Cold Harbor, battle of, 232- 

2 33- 



INDEX 



371 



Colfax, Schuyler, nominated for 

Vice-Presidency, 292. 
Colliding, Roscoe, supports 

Grant for third term, 321. 
Cooke, Jay, failure of, 311. 
Coppee, Henry, on Grant at 

West Point, 47. 
Cox, Jacob D.,in Cabinet, 296- 

297. 

Dana, Charles A., at Vicks- 
burg, 169 ; comment on Mc- 
Clernand, 180 ; comments on 
Missionary Ridge, 204-206 ; 
anecdote of Grant, 335-336. 

Dana, Richard H., description 
of Grant, 215. 

Davis, Jefferson, as Secretary 
of War, 75 ; abandons Rich- 
mond, 259. 

Dent, Frederick T., quarrel 
with Grant, 45 ; home of, 51. 

Eads, James B., constructs 
gunboats, 117. 

Early, Jubal A., invades Valley 
of Shenandoah, 246 ; threat- 
ens Washington, 247. 

Eaton, John, conversation with 
Giant, 40 ; organizes contra- 
bands, 158. 

Electoral Commission, decision 

of, 3IS-. 
Ewell, Richard S., comment 
on Grant, 46 ; in Mexican 
War, 65 ; surrenders at Sail- 
or's Creek, 260. 

Farragut, David G., attacks 

Vicksburg, 162. 
Fish, Hamilton, as Secretary of 

State, 295 ; settlement of 

Alabama claims, 298-302. 
Fish, James D., president of 

Marine National Bank, 324; 



insolvency of bank, 326 ; 

reminiscence of, 329. 
Five Forks, battle of, 258. 
Foote, Andrew H., commands 

fleet, 117; wounded at Fort 

Donelson, 126. 
Fort Donelson, attack on, 123- 

129. 
Fort Henry, capture of, 12 1- 

122. 
Fort Stedman, attack on, 256. 
Port Sumter, firing on, 94 ; 

raising of flag at, 274. 
Freedmen's Bureau, idea of, 

158 ; legislation on, 285. 
Fremont, John C, in command 

of West, 104 ; attacks Price, 

114. 

Galena, Grant at, 84-87 ; 
town meeting at, 96 ; rejoic- 
ing at, 280. 

Garfield, James A., nominated 
for President, 323 ; election 
of, 324. 

Gordon, John B., at Appomat- 
tox, 262 ; conduct of, 270. 

Grant, Frederick D., birth, 68 ; 
at Vicksburg, 18 1. 

Grant, Hannah Simpson, mar- 
riage, 17; character of, 20; 
family, 21 ; farewell to son, 

35- 
Grant, Jesse Root, early life, 16; 

marriage, 17 ; birth of Ulys- 
ses S., 17; business life, 18; 
children of, 21 ; writes Jef- 
ferson Davis, 76 ; letters to, 
81, 108, 117, 118, 153, 213; 
as postmaster, 309. 
Grant, Julia Dent (Mrs. Ulysses 
S.), home of, 51 ; engage- 
ment, 54 ; marriage, 67 ; 
children of, 79 ; with Lin- 
coln, 275 j on world-tour, 



372 



INDEX 



318; affection of husband, 

338. 

Grant,Matthew, career of, 13-15. 

Grant, Ulysses S., ancestry of, 
I 3- I .9f 35 * J family of, 21 ; 
naming of, 22 ; boyhood, 23- 
29 ; at West Point, 36-49 ; 
horsemanship, 42 ; second 
lieutenant, 50 ; engagement 
to Julia Dent, 54 ; Palo Alto 
and Resaca de la Palma, 56 ; 
Monterey, 58 ; Cerro Gordo, 
6l; Contreras, 62; Churu- 
busco, 62 ; Molino del Rey, 
63 ; Chapultepec, 63 ; life in 
Mexico, 64-66 ; marriage, 
67 ; at Sackett's Harbor, 68- 
69 ; on Pacific Coast, 70-77 ; 
resignation from army, 75 ; 
at St. Louis, 78-84 ; removes 
to Galena, 84 ; presides over 
union meeting, 96 ; in Adju- 
tant's office, 98 ; appointed 
Colonel, 102 ; first campaign, 
105 ; appointed Brigadier- 
General, 105 ; in command 
at Cairo, 108 ; seizes Padu- 
cah, 113; Battle of Belmont, 
115-116; capture of Fort 
Henry, 121-122; Fort Don- 
elson, 123-130; trouble with 
Halleck, 134-136; Pittsburg 
Landing, 139-146; siege 
of Corinth, 150-152; Iuka, 
153; Corinth, 154; attacks 
Vicksburg, 163-186; ap- 
pointed Major-General, 188 ; 
accident to, 190 ; in com- 
mand of Military Division of 
the Mississippi, 195 ; Battle 
of Missionary Ridge, 200- 
204 ; comment of Motley, 
209 ; nominated Lieutenant- 
General, 213; letter to Sher- 
man, 213; commissioned, 



214; plan of, 218-220; Bat- 
tle of Wilderness, 223-225 ; 
Battle of Spottsylvania Court 
House, 226-230 ; Battle of 
North Anna, 230 ; Battle of 
Cold Harbor, 232-233 ; criti- 
cism of campaign, 235-239; 
siege of Petersburg, 241- 
245 ; the Valley campaign, 
245-249 ; break-up of Con- 
federacy, 252-253 ; attack on 
Fort Stedman, 256; Battle 
of Five Forks, 258 ; capture 
of Petersburg, 259 ; pursuit 
of Lee, 260-265 ; surrender 
at Appomattox, 266-270 ; 
comment on campaign, 271 ; 
losses of, 272 ; assassination 
of Lincoln, 275 ; surrender 
of Johnston, 277-278 ; end of 
war, 279 ; report on South, 
283; General, 288; Secre- 
tary of War, 289 ; quarrel 
with Johnson, 289-291 ; nom- 
inated for Presidency, 291 ; 
election, 292 ; inauguration, 
294 ; Cabinet of, 295-298 ; 
the Alabama claims, 299- 
301 ; San Domingo treaty, 
302 ; reconstruction, 304- 

306 ; the Liberal movement, 

307 ; reelection of, 310 ; veto 
of Inflation Bill, 312 ; polit- 
ical demoralization, 313; the 
Hayes-Tilden election, 314- 
316; on world -tour, 318- 
320 ; the third term move- 
ment, 321-323; Grant and 
Ward, 324-329 ; relations 
with Vanderbilt, 330 ; acci- 
dent to, 331 ; writes "Mem- 
oirs," 332 ; final sickness, 
333-334; characteristics of, 
335-351 ; correspondence 
with Sherman, 352-355. 



INDEX 



373 



Grant, Ulysses S., Jr., business 
life in New York, 324. 

Greeley, Horace, nominated for 
President, 310 ; death of, 
3"- 

Halleck, Henry W., com- 
mands at St. Louis, 117; de- 
mands increased authority, 
133; relieves Grant, 134; 
attacks Corinth, 150-15 1 ; in 
general command, 152 ; com- 
ment on Vicksburg campaign, 
188; plan of campaign, 207. 

Hamer, Thomas L., appoints 
Grant to West Point, ^} ; in 
war with Mexico, 57-58. 

Hancock, Winfield S., com- 
mands Second Corps, 220; 
attacks Bloody Angle, 228- 
229 ; defeated for Presidency, 

324. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., nomi- 
nated for Presidency, 314. 

Hoar, E. Rockwood, in Cabi- 
net, 296-297. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, com- 
ment on Grant, 279. 

Hooker, Joseph, reinforces 
Army of the Cumberland, 
195 ; at Lookout Mountain, 
201-202. 

Howard, Oliver O., comment 
on Grant, 346. 

Humphreys, Andrew A., com- 
mands Second Corps, 257. 

Hunter, David, in Missouri, 
114; threatens Lynchburg, 
233- 

Inflation Bill, veto of, 312. 

Jackson, capture of, 175. 
Johnson, Andrew, meets Grant, 
196; character of, 276; on 



reconstruction, 281-287 ; ve- 
toes Freedmen's Bureau Bill, 
285 ; " swing round the cir- 
cle," 287 ; quarrel with Grant, 
289-291 ; at Grant's inau- 
guration, 294. 
Johnson, Walter, recollections 

of . 3 2 7-3 2 9- 

Johnston, Albert Sidney, com- 
mands in Tennessee, 120; 
reinforces Fort Donelson, 
123; at Pittsburg Landing, 
138-144; killed, 144. 

Johnston, Joseph E.,in Mexico, 
65; at Jackson, 174; at- 
tempts to relieve Vicksburg, 
179; in command of West, 
206 ; surrender of, 277. 

Juarez, opposes Maximilian, 
280. 

Ku-Klux Klan, depredations 
of, 306. 

Lee, Robert E., in Mexico, 
65 ; organization of army, 
221; condition of army, 252; 
made Commander-in-Chief, 
254 ; at Appomattox, 262- 
269 ; protected by Grant, 283 ; 
comment on Grant, 345 ; 
Grant's comment on, 347. 

Liberal Republican, organiza- 
tion of party, 307. 

Li Hung Chang, entertains 
Grant, 319. 

Lincoln, Abraham, elected 
President, 92; appoints 
Grant B r i ga d i e r-General, 
105 ; comments on Grant, 
149, 169; search for a gen- 
eral, 210; nominates Giant 
for Lieutenant-General, 213; 
commissions Grant, 214 ; 
trust in Grant, 218; renomi- 



374 



INDEX 



nation of, 238 ; reelection of, 
249 ; assassination of, 275. 

Logan, John A., addresses sol- 
diers, 102 ; at Belmont, 116; 
supports third term move- 
ment, 321 ; at Champion 
Hill, 349. 

Longstreet, James, observes 
Grant's courting, 51 ; rein- 
forces Bragg, 192 ; at Chick- 
amauga, 193 ; besieges Knox- 
ville, 198. 

Lookout Mountain, battle of, 
201-202 ; comment on, 345. 

Lowell, James Russell, comment 
on Grant, 308. 

Maximilian, proclaimed Em- 
peror of Mexico, 280 ; exe- 
cution of, 281. 

Maysville Seminary, attended 
by Grant, 26-27. 

McClellan, George B., in Mex- 
ico, 65; as surveyor, 71; 
Grant's application to, 101 ; 
starts Peninsular Campaign, 
136 ; Grant's comment on, 

343- 

McClernand, John A., ad- 
dresses soldiers, 102; at Bel- 
mont, 116; at Fort Donel- 
son, 127 ; at Pittsburg Land- 
ing. 139-146; at Arkansas 
Post, 166; relieved of com- 
mand, 181. 

McPherson, James B., on staff, 
131 ; in Vicksburg campaign, 
167-175 ; Grant and Sher- 
man on, 35 2 -354- 

Meade, George Gordon, com- 
ment on Grant, 216; reor- 
ganizes Army of Potomac, 
219; relations with Grant, 
238. 

Mexico, causes of war with, 52- 



54 ; Taylor's battles in, 55- 
60 ; Scott's invasion of, 60- 
64 ; treaty with, 66 ; French 
invasion of, 238; Maximil- 
ian, Emperor of, 280. 

Missionary Ridge, battle of, 
200-204. 

Monocacy, battle of, 246. 

Motley, John Lothrop, comment 
on Grant, 209. 

Napoleon III, supports Maxi- 
milian, 280; overthrown, 303. 

Nashville, battle of, 250. 

Newman, John P., conversation 
with Grant, 341. 

North Anna River, battle of, 
230. 

Norton, Charles Eliot, comment 
on Grant, 307. 

Ord, Edward O. C, at Iuka, 
154; succeeds McClernand, 
179 ; at Appomattox, 260. 

Parke, John G., commands 

Ninth Corps, 245. 
Pemberton, John C, at Cha- 

pultepec, 64 ; commands at 

Vicksburg, 161 ; surrenders, 

185. 
Petersburg, importance of, 241 ; 

siege of, 241-245 ; capture 

of, 259. 
Pittsburg Landing, battle of, 

139-146; controversies over, 

147-149. 
Pleasants, Henry, suggests 

mine at Petersburg, 243. 
Polk, James K., declares war 

on Mexico, 55. 
Polk, Leonidas, invades Ken- 
tucky, in; at Belmont, 116; 

abandons Columbus, 132. 



INDEX 



375 



Porter, David P., at Vicksburg, 

168-172. 
Porter, Fitz John, Grant writes 

upon, 331. 
Forter, Horace, describes Lee's 

surrender, 269 ; anecdote of 

Grant, 340. 
Port Gibson, battle of, 173. 
Port Hudson, surrender of, 

188. 
Prentiss, B. M. t in Missouri, 

106 ; at Pittsburg Landing, 

139- 

Rawlins, John A., advocates 
Union, 96 ; letter to Grant, 
182—183 ; as Secretary of 
War, 296. 

Raymond, battle of, 174. 

Reconstruction, problem of, 
281 ; legislation of, 285-287 ; 
during Grant's administra- 
tion, 305-307. 

Reid, Whitelaw, on Grant, 148. 

Richmond, evacuation of, 259. 

Root, Elihu, examines Grant, 

3*9- 
Rosecrans, William S., at Iuka, 

153 ; at Corinth, 154; march 

on Chattanooga, 191-192; 

Cliickamauga, 193; relieved 

of command, 195. 

Sackett's Harbor, Grant at, 
68-69. 

Sailor's Creek, battle of, 260. 

San Domingo, treaty for an- 
nexation of, 302. 

Schaff, Morris, description of 
Grant, 217 ; description of 
Lee's retreat, 259. 

Schurz, Carl, report of, 283 ; 
leads Liberals, 309. 

Scott, Thomas A., investigates 
graft, 118. 



Scott, Winficld, visit to West 

Point, 41, 47 ; in war with 

Mexico, 60-67. 
Sedgwick, John, commands 

Sixth Corps, 220 ; killed, 

22S. 
Seward, William II., assault on, 

275- 
Seymour, Horatio, nominated 

for Presidency, 292. 

Sheridan, Philip H., at Mis- 
sionary Ridge, 200-204 ; 
commands cavalry, 220 ; cav- 
alry raid, 227 ; in command 
of Shenandoah Valley, 247 ; 
Battle of Cedar Creek, 248 ; 
at Five Forks, 257 ; pursuit 
of Lee, 260-264 ; sent to 
Rio Grande, 280 ; comments 
on Grant, 338-339. 

Sherman, John, comment on 
Grant, 215. 

Sherman, William T., at West 
Point, 37 ; meets Grant at 
St. Louis, 83 ; comment on 
secession, 93 ; at Smithland, 
130; at Pittsburg Landing, 
137-145 ; friendship for 
Grant, 152; at Chickasaw, 
165 ; takes Jackson, 187 ; re- 
inforces Chattanooga, 199 ; 
relieves Knoxville, 205 ; the 
Meridian Expedition, 207 ; 
in command of Military Di- 
vision of Mississippi, 219 ; be- 
gins Atlanta campaign, 221 ; 
captures Atlanta, 249 ; sur- 
render of Johnston, 277 ; sent 
to Mexico, 288 ; comments 
on Grant, 293, 308, 346; 
correspondence with Grant, 

35 2 -355- 
Slavery, extent of, 88 ; Grant's 

views on, 157. 
Smith, Charles F., at West 



376 



INDEX 



Point, 39; at Paducah, 114; 
at Fort Donelson, 128; suc- 
ceeds Grant, 134. 

Smith, William F., plan for re- 
lief of Chattanooga, 196 ; 
marches to Cold Harbor, 
232 ; attacks Petersburg, 234; 
quarrel with Butler, 239. 

Spottsylvania Court House, bat- 
tle of, 226-230. 

Stanton, Edwin M., meets 
Grant, 195 ; instructions to 
Grant, 255 ; denounces Sher- 
man, 277 ; suspended from 
Cabinet, 289. 

Stephens, Alexander H., on 
Southern opinion, 92. 

Stevens, Thaddeus, on recon- 
struction, 284. 

Stewart, Alexander T., ineligi- 
ble for Cabinet, 295. 

Sumner, Charles, on recon- 
struction, 284 ; on Alabama 
claims, 299 ; quarrel with 
Grant, 302 ; Grant on, 340. 

Taylor, Zachary, in war 

with Mexico, 55-60. 

Thomas, George H., victory at 
Cumberland Gap, 121 ; at 
Chickamauga, 193 ; in com- 
mand of The Army of the 
Cumberland, 196 ; at Mis- 
sionary Ridge, 200-204; a t 
Nashville, 250. 

Tilden, Samuel J., nominated 
for Presidency, 314. 

Tilghman, Lloyd, at Fort 
Henry, 122. 



Vanderbilt, William H., 
loan to Grant, 326 ; dis- 
charge of debt, 330. 

Vicksburg, importance of, 160 ; 
attacks on, 161-185 ; surren- 
der of, 186. 

Virginius, expedition of, 303. 

Wallace, Lew, at Fort Don- 
elson, 125 ; at Pittsburg Land- 
ing, 144-146 ; commands at 
Monocacy, 246. 

Ward, Ferdinand, organizes 
Grant & Ward, 324 ; failure 
of, 326. 

Warren, Gouverneur K., com- 
mands Fifth Corps, 220 ; at 
Five Forks, 258. 

Washburne, Elihu B., Con- 
gressman, 96 ; recommends 
Grant, 106; letters to, 136, 
157 ; comment on Grant, 
212; as Secretary of State, 
295. 

Welles, Gideon, comment on 
Grant, 217; criticism of cam- 
paign, 235 ; description of 
rejoicing, 274 ; criticism of 
Grant, 290-291. 

West Point, spirit of, 31. 

Wilderness, battle of, 223-225. 

Wilson, James H., comment on 
campaign, 237. 

Yates, Richard, employs 
Grant, 98; appoints Grant 
Colonel, 102. 

Young, John Russell, on world- 
tour, 318. 



- 



J 



